Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Given Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Citigroup has received a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from 15 brokerages, with a twelve-month target price of $96.46.
• The company recently announced an increase in its quarterly dividend from $0.56 to $0.60 per share, representing a yield of 2.50%.
• In its latest earnings report, Citigroup reported an EPS of $1.96, exceeding expectations by $0.35, alongside a revenue increase of 8.2% year-over-year to $21.67 billion.

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the fifteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $96.46.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Evercore ISI set a $77.00 price target on Citigroup in a research report on Monday, July 7th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Citigroup from $103.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $89.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Citigroup Price Performance

NYSE:C opened at $96.04 on Monday. Citigroup has a 52 week low of $53.51 and a 52 week high of $96.90. The stock's fifty day moving average is $82.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $76.29. The company has a market capitalization of $179.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Citigroup (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.35. Citigroup had a net margin of 8.44% and a return on equity of 7.29%. The firm had revenue of $21.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.52 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 8.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Citigroup will post 7.53 EPS for the current year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.60 per share. This is a boost from Citigroup's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. Citigroup's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 33.09%.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, Director Peter B. Henry sold 3,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.40, for a total transaction of $271,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $193,456. The trade was a 58.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 4,417 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.26, for a total value of $301,504.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 13,048 shares in the company, valued at approximately $890,656.48. This trade represents a 25.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Citigroup by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 352,948 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,844,000 after purchasing an additional 11,674 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Citigroup by 13.8% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,247,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,143,633,000 after buying an additional 1,970,300 shares during the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd grew its stake in shares of Citigroup by 109.0% during the first quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd now owns 1,246,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $88,458,000 after acquiring an additional 649,807 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 166.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Onyx Bridge Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the first quarter worth about $214,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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