Citigroup (NYSE:C) Trading Down 2.7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) fell 2.7% on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $78.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Citigroup traded as low as $62.23 and last traded at $62.62. 4,818,994 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 17,853,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.33.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered Citigroup from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, March 30th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $83.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an "in-line" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and set a $92.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Citigroup in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $84.61.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted 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 worth $24,844,000 after buying an additional 11,674 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management increased its position in Citigroup by 340.6% during the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company's stock worth $2,536,000 after buying an additional 27,856 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,852,000 after acquiring an additional 20,000 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Citigroup by 13.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 16,247,095 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,143,633,000 after purchasing an additional 1,970,300 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Citigroup by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company's stock worth $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 12,280 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company's stock.

Citigroup Stock Up 1.8 %

The firm has a market cap of $119.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $71.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $21.60 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.34 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup's dividend payout ratio is 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.