Citigroup Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 157,271 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 43% compared to the average daily volume of 109,869 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Avestar Capital LLC raised its position in Citigroup by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 12,156 shares of the company's stock valued at $761,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in Citigroup by 39.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,871 shares of the company's stock valued at $368,000 after purchasing an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Citigroup during the 3rd quarter valued at $11,638,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its position in Citigroup by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 56,877 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,561,000 after purchasing an additional 3,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Whitney Corp raised its position in Citigroup by 7.4% during the 3rd quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 5,544 shares of the company's stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company's stock.

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:C traded up $0.31 on Wednesday, reaching $69.33. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,061,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,428,314. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $62.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $62.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. The company has a market cap of $131.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 1.44. Citigroup has a 52-week low of $43.10 and a 52-week high of $70.20.

Citigroup (NYSE:C - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $20.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.86 billion. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.19% and a net margin of 4.70%. The company's quarterly revenue was up .9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.52 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 5.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, November 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 4th. Citigroup's payout ratio is currently 64.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on C shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Citigroup from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $86.00 to $82.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Citigroup from $91.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $72.06.

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.