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

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) 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. The stock had previously closed at $82.10.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on C. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Citigroup from $69.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Citigroup from $85.00 to $92.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Citigroup from $110.00 to $102.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Citigroup from $77.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. Finally, Truist Financial initiated coverage on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.93.

Citigroup Price Performance

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $158.46 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.65 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

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

Citigroup declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, January 15th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to purchase up to 13.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,676 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after buying an additional 7,332 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,538,947 shares of the company’s stock valued at $108,330,000 after buying an additional 102,659 shares during the last quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management N.V. now owns 2,459,686 shares of the company’s stock valued at $173,137,000 after buying an additional 35,197 shares during the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 541,592 shares of the company’s stock valued at $38,133,000 after buying an additional 122,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 189.6% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 137,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,659,000 after buying an additional 89,834 shares during the last quarter. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.