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Investors fear that Citigroup Inc’s (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research) sale of $4.5 billion of shares, combined with a $6 billion preferred stock sale last week, signal the bank is likely to face more write-downs in the future and may need to raise even more capital.

Citigroup management has shifted from believing it was essentially done raising new capital to signaling it is interested in raising more, analysts say.

That willingness to raise more money is a warning sign to some investors, because companies are typically reluctant to issue equity capital, which can be dilutive and boost dividend obligations.

“It looks like they’re trying to stop the bleeding and they just can’t seem to do it,” said Ralph Cole, portfolio manager at Ferguson Wellman Capital Management in Portland, Oregon.

Mike Hanretta, a spokesman for Citigroup said: “we are strongly capitalized.”

But some analysts disagree fast cash payday loan. Meredith Whitney, analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, said the bank needs another $10 billion to $15 billion of capital. Her note came out before Citi’s stock deal was boosted from $3 billion to $4.5 billion.

Whitney also believes Citi may cut its dividend, which costs the bank about $6.5 billion a year, for the second time this year.

The recent bout of preferred and common equity offerings — one of a series by capital-starved financial institutions worldwide — leave Citi with a Tier 1 capital ratio of about 8.6 percent, based on March 31 balance sheet figures. That beats the 7.7 percent level it had before the capital raising, and is above the bank’s target of 7.5 percent. 

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