Citigroup (NYSE:C) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on C. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.29.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.7 %

C opened at $70.48 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $132.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.00. Citigroup has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.84 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Citigroup will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citigroup news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. Corporate insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Core Alternative Capital lifted its position in Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 171 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the third quarter worth $31,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. increased its stake in Citigroup by 150.0% in the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

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.