Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Citigroup (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders bought 221,378 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 100% compared to the average volume of 110,528 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Citigroup from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America decreased their price target on shares of Citigroup from $90.00 to $89.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on Citigroup from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $83.00) on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays raised Citigroup from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $70.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Four investment 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, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.04.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Sara Wechter sold 15,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.01, for a total transaction of $1,225,276.25. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 109,780 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,893,277.80. The trade was a 12.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, COO Anand Selvakesari sold 30,000 shares of Citigroup stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was 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 directly owns 229,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,586,498. This represents a 11.57 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 108,007 shares of company stock valued at $8,824,653 over the last three months. 0.08% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of C. Core Alternative Capital lifted its holdings in Citigroup by 83.4% during the 4th quarter. Core Alternative Capital now owns 376 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 171 shares during the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citigroup in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. American National Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Up 3.6 %

C stock opened at $70.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $132.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 1.29. Citigroup has a twelve month low of $53.51 and a twelve month high of $84.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $68.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $21.60 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.34 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 7.43% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 7.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 23rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 5th will be paid a $0.56 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 5th. This represents a $2.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 35.39%.

Citigroup declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.