Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.53.

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler reissued 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. Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $74.12 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Citigroup has a fifty-two week low of $53.51 and a fifty-two week high of $84.74. The company has a market capitalization of $139.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.46, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $77.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.42.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.84 EPS. Analysts expect 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 buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value 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 approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. DSG Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth $10,752,000. Chancellor Financial Group WB LP purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at $1,428,000. 111 Capital bought a new position in Citigroup during the fourth quarter valued at $534,000. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 163,334 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,497,000 after buying an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

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.