Citigroup (NYSE:C) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $91.00 to $107.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Citigroup traded as high as $69.41 and last traded at $69.24, with a volume of 2324027 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $63.67.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on C. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Citigroup from $75.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Argus increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MONECO Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC now owns 5,542 shares of the company’s stock worth $352,000 after buying an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $233,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares during the period. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 4.0% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 4,295 shares of the company’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 164 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.7% in the first quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 6,288 shares of the company’s stock valued at $398,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Legacy Capital Group California Inc. grew its holdings in Citigroup by 1.0% during the second quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 16,596 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,053,000 after acquiring an additional 169 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Down 1.4 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.27. The company has a market capitalization of $129.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.20. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The firm had revenue of $20.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.86 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.52 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 5.87 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.93%.

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.