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

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.85.

C has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Citigroup from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Citigroup from $54.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Societe Generale lowered Citigroup from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, January 8th. StockNews.com raised Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Citigroup in a report on Monday, April 1st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Csenge Advisory Group raised its stake in Citigroup by 12.4% during the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 11,741 shares of the company’s stock valued at $743,000 after buying an additional 1,296 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 25,858 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,635,000 after buying an additional 3,263 shares during the period. Embree Financial Group bought a new position in Citigroup in the 1st quarter worth $207,000. Gold Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 22,490 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,422,000 after purchasing an additional 680 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalina Capital Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 1st quarter valued at about $253,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of C opened at $61.50 on Friday. Citigroup has a twelve month low of $38.17 and a twelve month high of $63.90. The firm has a market cap of $117.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $59.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.48.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.29. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The firm had revenue of $21.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.86 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Citigroup will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.72%.

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.