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

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $73.00.

Several research firms recently weighed in on C. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $75.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its stake in shares of Citigroup by 13.3% in the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 73,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,653,000 after purchasing an additional 8,593 shares during the period. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in Citigroup by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 201,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,739,000 after buying an additional 23,774 shares during the period. BDF Gestion acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup during the second quarter worth approximately $3,861,000. KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 1.8% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,138,511 shares of the company’s stock valued at $71,270,000 after acquiring an additional 20,291 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Global Investments grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 289.5% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 30,640 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,918,000 after acquiring an additional 22,774 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Citigroup stock opened at $69.84 on Wednesday. Citigroup has a fifty-two week low of $44.56 and a fifty-two week high of $70.20. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $62.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $132.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.44.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $20.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.86 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The company’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Citigroup will post 5.85 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 4th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 64.93%.

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.