Citigroup (NYSE:C) Trading Down 2.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s share price traded down 2.7% on Wednesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $84.00 to $79.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Citigroup traded as low as $62.23 and last traded at $62.62. 4,818,994 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 17,853,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.33.

C has been the subject of several other reports. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.75.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citigroup news, 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 value 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. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. 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 ninety days. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,853,484,000 after acquiring an additional 667,357 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,561,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,714,359,000 after acquiring an additional 815,003 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,863,718 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Citigroup by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,832,063 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,311,048,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in Citigroup by 455.2% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Down 2.8 %

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $117.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.52, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.34 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Equities research analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.