Citigroup (NYSE:C) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Citigroup (NYSE:C) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Sunday.

C has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Truist Financial initiated coverage on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.50.

Citigroup Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $71.08 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $133.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. Citigroup has a 1 year low of $53.51 and a 1 year high of $84.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.88 and a 200 day moving average of $70.91.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.51 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business’s revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.84 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Citigroup will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the company to repurchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.21, for a total value of $4,864,872.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,084,112.51. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149 in the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 352,948 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,844,000 after acquiring an additional 11,674 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after buying an additional 27,856 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% in the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,852,000 after purchasing an additional 20,000 shares during the period. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 168.7% during the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,376,000 after buying an additional 12,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in Citigroup by 2.4% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,236,000 after purchasing an additional 8,301 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.