Royal Bank of Canada Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Citigroup (NYSE:C) Stock Price

Citigroup (NYSE:C) had its price target reduced by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada from $85.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 23.36% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also commented on C. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $70.00 to $95.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $92.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Citigroup from $85.50 to $75.50 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Truist Financial dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $84.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.61.

Citigroup Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE C opened at $63.23 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $71.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $119.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.63, a PEG ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. Citigroup has a 52-week low of $53.51 and a 52-week high of $84.74. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.84 by $0.12. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.43%. The firm had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $21.34 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Citigroup will post 7.53 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Citigroup

In related news, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.10, for a total transaction of $2,433,000.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 229,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,586,498. This trade represents a 11.57 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,935,599,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Citigroup by 455.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 31,352,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,206,908,000 after acquiring an additional 25,705,141 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Citigroup by 29.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 34,362,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,418,754,000 after acquiring an additional 7,863,718 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in Citigroup by 18.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,998,976,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its position in shares of Citigroup by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,326,745 shares of the company’s stock valued at $586,120,000 after purchasing an additional 3,947,912 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

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.