Citibank (NYSE: C) Stock Price Hits 3 Month Low

Shares of Citibank (NYSE: C) dropped by 4% on Monday and fell below $4.00 by the end of the trading day.

Citibank has been hammered with a number of negative news stories over the last couple of weeks that have caused its stock price to take quite a beating. The news item that pushed the stock price below $4.00 was a statement from a closely-followed analyst saying that Citi “really no longer exists as a company as it once did.”

Citibank and the rest of the banking industry have also been hammered by analysts’ predictions that residential and commercial real estate markets will continue to take a hit. This means that Citibank’s real estate portfolio, as will others, will likely continue to result in losses for the company throughout 2010 and beyond.

It was also reported that Citibank was forced to take a $10 billion 4^th Quarter deferred-tax asset write-down. This write-down is an indication that Citibank doesn’t have much liquidity and took the write-down so that it would have to give up fewer cash reserves in the form of taxes. The $10 billion write-down represented about 25% of its $38 billion in tax-deferred assets.

Citibank is also still reeling from a lot of consumer complaints about arbitrary increases in credit card interest rates for credit card users that have excellent credit. Untold numbers of Citibank customers have received letters in the last few weeks informing them that their interest rate would be jumping to 29.99% citing “economic conditions” and alleged negative items on card holders’ credit reports.

The bank is also receiving heat for shutting off credit cards for an undetermined number of customers that have made use of Citibank-affiliated gas-station credit cards. Citibank sent out notices telling consumers that their credit cards would be cancelled on a Monday and shut them off on a Wednesday, well before most people received any form of notification.

Citibank’s stock price bottomed out at $0.97 per share at the bottom of the recession in March and has made a bit of recovery, but it’s still a long way down from its 52 week high of $14.81.