Citigroup (NYSE:C) Trading Up 3.8% – Should You Buy?

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s share price traded up 3.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $64.43 and last traded at $63.97. 5,899,258 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 14,344,465 shares. The stock had previously closed at $61.64.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

C has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Bank of America cut their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

Citigroup Trading Up 1.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $121.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $72.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Investors of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

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

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. The trade was a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,853,484,000 after acquiring an additional 667,357 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in Citigroup by 2.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 815,003 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 29.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,418,754,000 after buying an additional 7,863,718 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 455.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,206,908,000 after buying an additional 25,705,141 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.