Citigroup (NYSE:C) Trading Down 8.3% – What’s Next?

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) shares fell 8.3% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $70.63 and last traded at $70.73. 13,672,209 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 12% from the average session volume of 15,473,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $77.17.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Citigroup from $104.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. Barclays upgraded Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Truist Financial assumed coverage on Citigroup in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Citigroup has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.93.

Citigroup Stock Down 6.4 %

The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $136.16 billion, a PE ratio of 12.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

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

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.65%.

Citigroup declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, January 15th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Citigroup

In other Citigroup news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 21.20 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. Company insiders own 0.08% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brookstone Capital Management lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 340.6% in the fourth quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 36,034 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,536,000 after acquiring an additional 27,856 shares during the period. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 34.8% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 77,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,852,000 after buying an additional 20,000 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 354,294 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,236,000 after buying an additional 8,301 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in Citigroup by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 19,560 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,376,000 after acquiring an additional 12,280 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Citigroup by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,138,511 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,270,000 after acquiring an additional 20,291 shares in the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.