StockNews.com Upgrades Citigroup (NYSE:C) to Buy

Citigroup (NYSE:C) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.53.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of C stock opened at $71.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $135.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.09, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. Citigroup has a 1-year low of $53.51 and a 1-year high of $84.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.20.

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

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

Insider Activity

In other Citigroup news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,893,277.80. This represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Citigroup by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 27,856 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in Citigroup by 34.8% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its stake in Citigroup by 168.7% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 12,280 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Citigroup by 2.4% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,236,000 after acquiring an additional 8,301 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Candriam S.C.A. raised its stake in Citigroup by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 200,860 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,139,000 after acquiring an additional 22,657 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.