Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) have received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $137.7941.

C has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citigroup from $140.00 to $153.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Evercore set a $139.00 target price on Citigroup in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Zacks Research lowered Citigroup from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $145.00 target price on shares of Citigroup in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Citigroup from $131.00 to $135.50 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th.

Key Headlines Impacting Citigroup

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Trading activity showed unusually strong demand for Citigroup call options, suggesting investors are positioning for further upside in the stock.
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup’s May consumer credit data was mixed but not alarming overall: card delinquencies declined, which may support the view that credit quality remains manageable. Article: Citigroup’s Card Delinquencies Decline, Charge-Offs Rise in May
• Positive Sentiment: The stock is still benefiting from recent momentum tied to strong earnings, restructuring progress, AI-related initiatives and share buybacks, which have helped push shares toward multi-year highs. Article: Citigroup Stock at Multi-Year High: Why Investors Should Stay Invested
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a report that Citigroup had recently gone long on a more constructive market view via an economist’s call for Fed rate cuts, but this is more macro commentary than a direct company catalyst. Article: Citi chief US economist defends unpopular Fed rate-cut call
• Negative Sentiment: Two lawsuits tied to a former executive’s allegations over Trump-related client concerns and retaliation could create legal and reputational risk for Citigroup if the claims gain traction. Article: Citigroup faces lawsuit over alleged Trump-linked account issues

Citigroup Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:C opened at $143.74 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $245.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.81, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $128.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.04. Citigroup has a 12-month low of $77.26 and a 12-month high of $146.54.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $24.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $22.96 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 9.19% and a net margin of 9.35%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 10.68 EPS for the current year.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 22nd. Investors of record on Monday, May 4th were issued a dividend of $0.60 per share. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 4th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.74%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 2,117 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.30, for a total transaction of $265,260.10. Following the transaction, the director owned 12,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,527,908.20. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Edward Skyler sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.41, for a total value of $3,285,250.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 182,022 shares in the company, valued at $23,919,511.02. This represents a 12.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup by 166.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 19,990 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,407,000 after purchasing an additional 12,499 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup by 20.5% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,805 shares of the company’s stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 1,669 shares during the last quarter. United Bank acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the second quarter valued at $972,000. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Citigroup by 3,016.7% in the second quarter. Osterweis Capital Management Inc. now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 905 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HUB Investment Partners LLC grew its holdings in Citigroup by 26.9% in the second quarter. HUB Investment Partners LLC now owns 15,287 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,301,000 after purchasing an additional 3,238 shares during 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.