Brokerages Set Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Target Price at $80.13

Shares of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) have earned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and twelve have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $80.13.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays upgraded shares of Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Citigroup from $82.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Citigroup from $63.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Citigroup from $72.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citigroup

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Citigroup by 2.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 39,919,798 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,492,238,000 after buying an additional 791,758 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citigroup by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 30,027,213 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,998,976,000 after acquiring an additional 4,680,713 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Citigroup by 3.2% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 28,970,357 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,813,544,000 after acquiring an additional 911,694 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in Citigroup by 5.5% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 17,428,251 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,105,999,000 after purchasing an additional 913,231 shares during the period. Finally, Greenhaven Associates Inc. increased its stake in Citigroup by 1.5% in the third quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 16,883,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,900,000 after purchasing an additional 242,545 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

C opened at $78.48 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.22. Citigroup has a 1 year low of $50.51 and a 1 year high of $79.25. The company has a market capitalization of $148.43 billion, a PE ratio of 22.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 1.43.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 15th. The company reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.22 by $0.12. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.70% and a return on equity of 6.19%. The company had revenue of $19.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.84 earnings per share. Citigroup’s quarterly revenue was up 12.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Citigroup will post 5.86 EPS for the current year.

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

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd will be paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 64.93%.

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.