Citigroup (NYSE:C) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America raised their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial began coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE C opened at $71.93 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.26. Citigroup has a one year low of $53.51 and a one year high of $84.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $135.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.84 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Citigroup will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,853,484,000 after purchasing an additional 667,357 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Citigroup by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,561,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,714,359,000 after buying an additional 815,003 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,863,718 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,832,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,311,048,000 after acquiring an additional 2,804,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 455.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,206,908,000 after acquiring an additional 25,705,141 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

About Citigroup

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.