Citigroup (NYSE:C) Hits New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) shares reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $135.83 and last traded at $132.39, with a volume of 4196703 shares. The stock had previously closed at $135.15.

More Citigroup News

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reshuffled senior leadership, naming Margo Pilic head of strategy, M&A, and investor relations, a move that could improve execution and simplify decision-making as CEO Jane Fraser continues the bank’s transformation. Citigroup Reshapes Leadership As It Pushes Into Tokenized Deposits
• Positive Sentiment: The bank is joining JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and other large lenders on a blockchain-based tokenized deposit network, signaling that Citi wants to stay competitive in next-generation payments and possibly benefit from lower-friction transaction infrastructure. JPMorgan, Citi and Big Banks Plan New Tokenized Deposit System to Answer Crypto
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also responding to Citi’s growing use of AI in operations, including a document-review system that cuts account-opening review time from about an hour to 15 minutes, which may point to better efficiency and cost savings over time. Citi Used AI to Shrink a 60-Minute Document Review to 15 Minutes
• Neutral Sentiment: Citi also announced redemptions of $3.15 billion of notes due in 2027, a routine balance-sheet management move that does not appear to be a major catalyst on its own. Citigroup Announces $2.75 Billion Redemption…
• Neutral Sentiment: Several headlines about Citi’s stock becoming overextended and the broader market looking “frothy” may temper enthusiasm, but they read more like caution flags than direct negatives for the company’s fundamentals. The stock market is at its frothiest…

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on C shares. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $145.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Citigroup from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Citigroup from $140.00 to $144.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Citigroup from $131.00 to $135.50 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, April 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $137.62.

Citigroup Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $124.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $116.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market cap of $226.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.43, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 1.12.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 14th. The company reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.43. Citigroup had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.35%.The firm had revenue of $24.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $22.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.96 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 10.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 4th were given a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is 29.74%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Thursday, May 7th that authorizes the company to buyback $30.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 13.7% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, insider Edward Skyler sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.41, for a total transaction of $3,285,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 182,022 shares in the company, valued at $23,919,511.02. The trade was a 12.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 2,117 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.30, for a total value of $265,260.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,527,908.20. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of C. Truist Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 4.7% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 375,977 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,873,000 after acquiring an additional 16,744 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 17.3% in the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 663,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $67,337,000 after acquiring an additional 98,082 shares in the last quarter. Gunderson Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter worth about $7,165,000. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 166.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,990 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,407,000 after acquiring an additional 12,499 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 21.9% in the third quarter. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 341,876 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,700,000 after acquiring an additional 61,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Company Profile

Citigroup Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City with roots tracing back to the City Bank of New York, founded in 1812. The modern Citigroup was created through the 1998 merger of Citicorp and Travelers Group and has since operated as a diversified bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial products and services to consumers, corporations, governments and institutions worldwide.

Citi’s principal businesses include retail and commercial banking, credit card and consumer lending products, wealth management and private banking, and a full suite of institutional services.