Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $83.93.

C has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upgraded 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. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th.

Citigroup Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE C opened at $81.43 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $73.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.63. The stock has a market cap of $154.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup has a 52 week low of $52.24 and a 52 week high of $82.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Citigroup will post 7.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% during the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 70.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 4,531,827 shares of the company’s stock valued at $283,692,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,628 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Citigroup by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,115,440 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,994,000 after purchasing an additional 1,731,527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 103.6% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 48,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,414,000 after purchasing an additional 1,410,950 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.