Kovack Advisors Inc. Acquires 17,023 Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)

Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) by 103.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 33,533 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 17,023 shares during the quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Citigroup were worth $1,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the third quarter worth $209,000. Simplicity Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC now owns 27,791 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,430,000 after acquiring an additional 4,150 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 56.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,245,693 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,078,000 after acquiring an additional 449,310 shares during the period. GFS Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $2,003,000. Finally, Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 9.1% during the fourth quarter. Sound Income Strategies LLC now owns 258,150 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,279,000 after acquiring an additional 21,440 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C stock traded up $0.87 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $62.66. 16,364,096 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,990,358. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $120.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.53, a PEG ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.52. Citigroup Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.17 and a 52 week high of $63.90. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $51.92.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $21.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.46 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.86 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.38%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.72%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on C shares. Societe Generale lowered shares of Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $54.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $46.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $62.91.

Citigroup Company Profile

Citigroup Inc, a diversified financial service holding company, provides various financial product and services to consumers, corporations, governments, and institutions worldwide. It operates through five segments: Services, Markets, Banking, U.S. Personal Banking, and Wealth. The Services segment includes Treasury and Trade Solutions, which provides cash management, trade, and working capital solutions to multinational corporations, financial institutions, and public sector organizations; and Securities Services, such as cross-border support for clients, local market expertise, post-trade technologies, data solutions, and various securities services solutions.