Citigroup Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors acquired 114,874 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 24% compared to the average daily volume of 92,416 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 355.9% in the first quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 19,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 14,922 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 73,317 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,653,000 after purchasing an additional 8,593 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 13.4% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 201,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,739,000 after purchasing an additional 23,774 shares during the period. BDF Gestion bought a new position in shares of Citigroup during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,861,000. Finally, New Mexico Educational Retirement Board increased its holdings in Citigroup by 13.9% during the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 115,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,300,000 after buying an additional 14,100 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on C. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 17th. Argus upped their price objective on Citigroup from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 15th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Citigroup from $87.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Citigroup from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Citigroup presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.33.

Citigroup Trading Up 3.8 %

Shares of Citigroup stock traded up $2.40 on Friday, reaching $65.88. The company had a trading volume of 10,293,608 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,295,212. The firm has a market cap of $125.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.74 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $60.52 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.85. Citigroup has a 1 year low of $38.17 and a 1 year high of $67.81.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 12th. The company reported $1.52 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.07 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.95% and a return on equity of 6.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.37 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Citigroup will post 5.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 5th were paid a dividend of $0.56 per share. This is a positive change from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 5th. Citigroup’s payout ratio is currently 62.75%.

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.