Citigroup (NYSE:C) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) shares reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $82.95 and last traded at $83.28, with a volume of 501171 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $82.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on C. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 price objective (up from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Up 2.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market cap of $158.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.09, a PEG ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.44. The business’s fifty day moving average is $75.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.61.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of C. AMF Tjanstepension AB purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,607,000. Creative Planning raised its position in Citigroup by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 381,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $23,873,000 after purchasing an additional 2,372 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB increased its stake in Citigroup by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 4,378,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $274,115,000 after buying an additional 54,782 shares during the period. Tsfg LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 1,047 shares of the company’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 218 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. increased its stake in Citigroup by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 29,244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,831,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

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.