Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $84.50.

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on C shares. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $71.08 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $133.78 billion, a PE ratio of 11.95, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.84 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 90 days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,935,599,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 455.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,206,908,000 after purchasing an additional 25,705,141 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after buying an additional 7,863,718 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB raised its position in 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 buying an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is 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.