Ibotta, Inc. (NYSE:IBTA) Position Raised by Citigroup Inc.

Key Points

• Citigroup Inc. significantly increased its stake in Ibotta, Inc. by over 2,500%, owning 334,460 shares valued at about $14 million by the end of Q1.
• Several investment firms, including Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, have downgraded their ratings and target prices for Ibotta, reflecting a trend of reduced confidence among analysts.
• Ibotta approved a $100 million share repurchase program, indicating that the board believes the company's stock may be undervalued.

Citigroup Inc. raised its position in Ibotta, Inc. (NYSE:IBTA - Free Report) by 2,500.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 334,460 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 321,600 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. owned about 1.08% of Ibotta worth $14,114,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of IBTA. Deutsche Bank AG increased its position in Ibotta by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 11,030 shares of the company's stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 713 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd increased its position in Ibotta by 237.9% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 24,068 shares of the company's stock worth $1,016,000 after purchasing an additional 16,945 shares in the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in Ibotta by 883.9% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,740 shares of the company's stock worth $284,000 after purchasing an additional 6,055 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Ibotta during the 1st quarter worth approximately $388,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank acquired a new stake in Ibotta during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on IBTA shares. Needham & Company LLC dropped their target price on shares of Ibotta from $70.00 to $33.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Ibotta in a research report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Ibotta from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $58.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Ibotta in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI reaffirmed an "in-line" rating and issued a $38.00 price objective (down previously from $65.00) on shares of Ibotta in a research report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Ibotta presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.71.

Ibotta Price Performance

NYSE:IBTA traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $24.25. The stock had a trading volume of 1,708,012 shares, compared to its average volume of 632,901. The company has a market capitalization of $612.56 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of -1.27. Ibotta, Inc. has a 1-year low of $22.50 and a 1-year high of $79.80. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $37.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.63.

Ibotta (NYSE:IBTA - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 14th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $84.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $81.70 million. Ibotta had a return on equity of 24.26% and a net margin of 26.24%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.33 EPS.

Ibotta declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Monday, June 9th that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Ibotta news, major shareholder Jermoluk Founders Fund I. Clark sold 1,578,502 shares of Ibotta stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $55,247,570.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 3,841,308 shares of the company's stock, valued at $134,445,780. The trade was a 29.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CMO Richard I. Donahue sold 85,289 shares of Ibotta stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.09, for a total transaction of $3,675,103.01. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief marketing officer directly owned 199,773 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,608,218.57. This represents a 29.92% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,192,224 shares of company stock valued at $78,652,577. 16.08% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Ibotta Company Profile

Ibotta's mission is to Make Every Purchase Rewarding. Our technology allows CPG brands to deliver digital promotions to over 200 million consumers through a single, convenient network called the Ibotta Performance Network (IPN). We are pioneers in success-based marketing: we only get paid when our client's promotion results in a sale, not when a consumer merely views or clicks on the promotion.