Citigroup (NYSE:C) Shares Down 2.7% After Analyst Downgrade

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) traded down 2.7% during trading on Wednesday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $85.00 to $78.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Citigroup traded as low as $62.23 and last traded at $62.62. 4,818,994 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 73% from the average session volume of 17,853,535 shares. The stock had previously closed at $64.33.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $84.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Citigroup from $110.00 to $109.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut 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. Four equities research 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $84.61.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total value of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 109,780 shares in the company, valued at $8,893,277.80. This trade represents a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark Mason sold 58,465 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. This represents a 21.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 103,590 shares of company stock worth $8,523,149. 0.08% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hoey Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 278.2% during the first quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 904 shares of the company’s stock worth $64,000 after buying an additional 665 shares in the last quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 12.6% during the first quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the last quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 3.3% in the first quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. now owns 88,295 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,268,000 after purchasing an additional 2,815 shares during the period. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC increased its stake in Citigroup by 51.0% in the first quarter. Tritonpoint Wealth LLC now owns 4,393 shares of the company’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 1,483 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Citigroup by 76.7% during the first quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 31,338 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,225,000 after buying an additional 13,606 shares during the period. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citigroup Trading Down 3.6 %

The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $116.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $71.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.91.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.84 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The company had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.34 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Citigroup Inc. will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be given a dividend of $0.56 per share. This represents a $2.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.65%.

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