Citigroup (NYSE:C) Stock Price Down 7.8% on Analyst Downgrade

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) shares were down 7.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $84.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Citigroup traded as low as $56.31 and last traded at $58.16. Approximately 18,613,390 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 34% from the average daily volume of 13,918,969 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.05.

C has been the topic of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price target (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.23.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In related news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at $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 sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in C. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth about $1,935,599,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Citigroup by 455.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,206,908,000 after purchasing an additional 25,705,141 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 29.7% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after buying an additional 4,680,713 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after buying an additional 3,947,912 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citigroup Trading Down 8.0 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a market cap of $109.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.95.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.84 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are 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.