Legato Capital Management LLC Makes New $2.53 Million Investment in Citigroup Inc. $C

Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 21,700 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,532,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Richards Merrill & Peterson Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC lifted its stake in Citigroup by 92.2% in the 3rd quarter. Dunhill Financial LLC now owns 319 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the last quarter. Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. High Note Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 107.7% during the fourth quarter. High Note Wealth LLC now owns 270 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Guerra Advisors Inc bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the third quarter worth $33,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Citigroup

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup announced a private credit partnership with BlackRock’s HPS Investment Partners, a large €15 billion deal aimed at expanding direct lending across Europe, the U.K., and later the Middle East. The move could help Citi deepen its presence in private credit and generate new fee income. Citigroup (C) Forms Private Credit Partnership With BlackRock
• Positive Sentiment: Citi’s wealth business is also expanding, with management saying a significant share of new global hiring will be focused on Asia, where the private bank is growing faster and producing better productivity. That supports the bank’s restructuring story and long-term profitability goals. Citi to boost Asia wealth business with ‘significant’ hires, global head says
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup shareholder approval of an expanded stock incentive plan suggests investors are backing management’s compensation and retention strategy, which can help support execution on the company’s turnaround plan. Citigroup Shareholders Approve Expanded Stock Incentive Plan
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup also continues to benefit from a broader favorable view from analysts, including comments that Q1 results confirmed improving earnings momentum. Citigroup Upgraded As Q1 Results Confirm Earnings Improvement Direction For Banking Giant
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate commentary noted Citi expects India IPO activity to recover later this year, which is positive for capital markets activity but is more of a medium-term driver than an immediate stock catalyst. Citi sees India IPOs hitting fresh records despite challenges
• Negative Sentiment: One potential overhang is governance pressure: a separate report said more Citi shareholders voted against the bank’s say-on-pay resolution, reflecting concern about executive compensation and Jane Fraser’s pay package. More Citi shareholders vote ‘no’ on say-on-pay

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $125.10 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.65 and a 52 week high of $135.29. The firm has a market cap of $213.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.14. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $121.04 and its 200-day moving average is $114.84.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $24.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.96 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.35%.Citigroup’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.96 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 10.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Thursday, May 7th that permits the company to repurchase $30.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 4th were paid a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.74%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Edward Skyler sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.41, for a total transaction of $3,285,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 182,022 shares in the company, valued at $23,919,511.02. This trade represents a 12.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 2,117 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.30, for a total value of $265,260.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 12,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,908.20. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on C. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Citigroup from $137.00 to $151.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Zacks Research lowered Citigroup from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $139.00 target price on shares of Citigroup in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $145.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Monday, April 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.62.

About Citigroup

Citigroup Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City with roots tracing back to the City Bank of New York, founded in 1812. The modern Citigroup was created through the 1998 merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group and has since operated as a diversified bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments and institutions worldwide.

Citi’s principal businesses include retail and commercial banking, credit card and consumer lending products, wealth management and private banking, and a full suite of institutional services.