Citigroup (NYSE:C) Stock Price Up 5.1% - Time to Buy?

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) traded up 5.1% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $68.82 and last traded at $67.86. 6,090,633 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 58% from the average session volume of 14,389,970 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.55.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on C. Bank of America dropped their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $92.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Citigroup from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $84.61.

Citigroup Stock Up 3.8 %

The company has a market capitalization of $126.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.26, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $71.01. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be issued a $0.56 dividend. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup's dividend payout ratio is 35.39%.

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of C. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Citigroup by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 40,587,155 shares of the company's stock worth $2,853,484,000 after purchasing an additional 667,357 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 38,561,690 shares of the company's stock worth $2,714,359,000 after acquiring an additional 815,003 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 29.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,418,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,863,718 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 32,832,063 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,311,048,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804,850 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 455.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company's stock worth $2,206,908,000 after buying an additional 25,705,141 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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