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

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C)’s share price was down 2.7% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Truist Financial lowered their price target on the stock from $84.00 to $79.00. Truist Financial currently has a buy rating on the stock. Citigroup traded as low as $62.23 and last traded at $62.62. Approximately 4,818,994 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average daily volume of 17,853,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.33.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on C. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $83.00 target price (up previously from $80.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, March 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.75.

Insider Activity

In other Citigroup news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 217,331 shares in the company, valued at $18,084,112.51. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock valued at $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of C. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,935,599,000. Capital World Investors boosted 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 purchasing an additional 25,705,141 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 29.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,418,754,000 after purchasing an additional 7,863,718 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 18.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after purchasing an additional 4,680,713 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock worth $586,120,000 after acquiring an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Trading Down 2.8 %

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 capitalization of $117.70 billion, a PE ratio of 10.52, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day moving average is $72.22 and its 200-day moving average is $70.97.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The business had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.34 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Citigroup

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.