JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Citigroup (NYSE:C) Price Target to $75.50

Citigroup (NYSE:C) had its price objective cut by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $85.50 to $75.50 in a research report report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the stock.

C has been the topic of a number of other reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 30th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. 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 research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.23.

Citigroup Stock Down 8.0 %

C stock opened at $58.00 on Thursday. Citigroup has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $75.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.03.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Citigroup by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 352,948 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,844,000 after buying an additional 11,674 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management increased its stake in Citigroup by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 27,856 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its position in Citigroup by 34.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its stake in Citigroup by 168.7% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 12,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after purchasing an additional 8,301 shares in 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.