Citi Poll: Dividend Top Investor Concern
NEW YORK (
) -- Readers' top concern about
Citigroup
(C) - Get Report
is, perhaps unsurprisingly, its dividend.
In
a poll last week, after the U.S Treasury Department
finished selling its stake in the banking giant, we asked readers to select their top concern. Just over 400 readers responded to the unscientific sampling. About 34% said they were most concerned about when Citi would restore its dividend.
Readers were almost as concerned about whether Citi can meet high earnings targets and about Citi's troubled assets, housed in a division called Citi Holdings; 30% of readers indicated worry about earnings and 29% about Citi Holdings.
Just 7% readers highlighted Citi's heavy focus on emerging markets as a top concern.
As far as Citi's dividend goes, management has indicated that the company may start boosting payouts as soon as 2012. Citi was forced to cut its dividend entirely starting in 2009 as the government invested $45 billion in bailout funds into the struggling bank.
Other banks, including potentially
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
and
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
, may announce dividend raises as soon as January, when the
Federal Reserve
is expected to announce results of its dividend-related stress tests.
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
may take a little longer, with CEO Brian Moynihan indicating that 2012 is when the dividend could be restored meaningfully.
In recent trading on Wednesday morning, Citi shares were down 0.8% at $4.66, having hit new 52-week high of $4.85 in recent sessions.
-- Written by Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York
.
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