Investors Buy High Volume of Citigroup Call Options (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 200,171 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 98% compared to the average daily volume of 101,046 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on C shares. Evercore ISI set a $77.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $94.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 3rd. Oppenheimer reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $87.97.

Insider Activity at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, Director John Cunningham Dugan sold 4,417 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.26, for a total transaction of $301,504.42. Following the sale, the director directly owned 13,048 shares of the company's stock, valued at $890,656.48. The trade was a 25.29% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.08% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in C. Legacy Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 11.1% during the second quarter. Legacy Solutions LLC now owns 4,158 shares of the company's stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Effects LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 21.0% during the second quarter. Wealth Effects LLC now owns 16,459 shares of the company's stock worth $1,401,000 after buying an additional 2,859 shares during the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 3.9% during the second quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 42,313 shares of the company's stock worth $3,602,000 after buying an additional 1,570 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 7,186 shares of the company's stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northside Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the 2nd quarter valued at $13,051,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citigroup Stock Up 3.5%

Shares of Citigroup stock traded up $3.05 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $90.55. 39,252,658 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,644,588. The firm has a market cap of $169.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Citigroup has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $91.79. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $78.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.92.

Citigroup (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.35. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 7.95%. The business had revenue of $21.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.52 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 8.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Citigroup will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 4th will be given a $0.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 4th. This is a boost from Citigroup's previous quarterly dividend of $0.56. This represents a $2.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Citigroup's payout ratio is 35.39%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.