Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) has earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $149.22.

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on Citigroup from $170.00 to $176.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Citigroup from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $150.00 price objective on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $158.00 to $154.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Citigroup from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th.

Key Stories Impacting Citigroup

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multi-market payments expansion: Citi launched access to multiple cross-border instant-payment systems through a single account setup on the Swift network. The offering could strengthen Citi’s transaction-banking franchise, reduce client onboarding friction and create longer-term fee opportunities. Citigroup Opens Single Account Access to Multi-Market Instant Payments
• Positive Sentiment: Constructive earnings outlook: A Q3 preview argued that Citi’s earnings should remain solid despite macroeconomic risks. That view follows the company’s latest quarterly results, when it exceeded consensus estimates for both earnings and revenue, with revenue rising 14.5% year over year. Citigroup Q3 Preview
• Positive Sentiment: Potentially friendlier capital planning: The Federal Reserve’s proposed stress-test changes could reduce swings in banks’ capital requirements and improve planning visibility for Citi. Any eventual reduction in capital uncertainty could support buybacks, dividends or lending capacity. Fed Revamps Bank Stress Tests
• Neutral Sentiment: Research and product activity: Citi raised its Bitcoin and Ethereum forecasts and continues expanding structured-product offerings. These developments may enhance trading and investment-banking activity, but they are unlikely to materially change near-term results for C. Citigroup Raises One-Year Bitcoin Forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Target-price reduction and macro concerns: JPMorgan lowered its Citi price target from $149 to $147, although it retained an Overweight rating. Separately, Citi warned that bond-market volatility driven by the long end of the yield curve could pressure risk assets, while oil-related inflation adds uncertainty around interest rates. JPMorgan Lowers Citigroup Price Target Citi Warns on Rate Volatility

Citigroup Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:C opened at $128.43 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $134.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $130.61. Citigroup has a 52 week low of $93.66 and a 52 week high of $147.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $219.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.87, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 14th. The company reported $3.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.74 by $0.41. Citigroup had a return on equity of 10.15% and a net margin of 10.23%.The company had revenue of $24.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.74 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.96 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 11.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.67 per share. This is a boost from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in C. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Citigroup by 3.7% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 80,956,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,199,986,000 after purchasing an additional 2,913,701 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Citigroup by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 34,196,783 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,990,422,000 after acquiring an additional 1,326,224 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 26,869,012 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,047,215,000 after buying an additional 728,043 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $2,800,944,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Citigroup during the second quarter valued at $3,244,602,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Citigroup Company Profile

Citigroup Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol C. Through its subsidiaries and businesses, Citi provides banking, lending, investment, payments, wealth management and other financial services to consumers, businesses, governments and institutional clients.

Citi’s principal businesses include Services, which supports institutional clients with treasury, trade, securities services and related solutions; Markets, which provides sales, trading, research and financing services; Banking, which offers investment banking and corporate banking; and Wealth, which provides private banking and wealth management.