Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Citigroup Call Options (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders bought 157,271 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 43% compared to the average daily volume of 109,869 call options.

Citigroup Trading Down 1.1 %

Citigroup stock opened at $68.13 on Friday. Citigroup has a 52 week low of $44.32 and a 52 week high of $70.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $128.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.44. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.51.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.20. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company had revenue of $20.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.86 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.52 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Citigroup will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be given a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 64.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on C. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Citigroup from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on Citigroup from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Citigroup from $91.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $75.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 123.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,716,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,005,749,000 after buying an additional 17,525,484 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Citigroup by 0.8% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 30,007,284 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,904,262,000 after purchasing an additional 250,716 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,970,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,813,544,000 after buying an additional 911,694 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 5.5% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 17,428,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,105,999,000 after buying an additional 913,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.5% during the third quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 16,883,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,056,900,000 after buying an additional 242,545 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.