Citigroup (NYSE:C) Rating Increased to Buy at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citigroup (NYSE:C) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on C. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $83.00 target price (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $79.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.01. Citigroup has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $149.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44.

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

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 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value 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 trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total transaction of $4,864,872.65. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in C. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 1,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC boosted its position in Citigroup by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 6,519 shares of the company’s stock valued at $459,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Blake Schutter Theil Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,637 shares of the company’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 135 shares during the period. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in Citigroup by 10.9% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,387 shares of the company’s stock worth $97,000 after buying an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors lifted its stake in Citigroup by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 4,112 shares of the company’s stock valued at $289,000 after acquiring an additional 137 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

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.