Citigroup Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 591,300 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 213% compared to the average volume of 188,627 call options.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of C stock opened at $61.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $117.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.49. Citigroup has a 1-year low of $38.17 and a 1-year high of $63.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.59 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.48.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.29. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The business had revenue of $21.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.86 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Citigroup will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citigroup Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. This represents a $2.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.45%. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.72%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on C. StockNews.com raised shares of Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Citigroup from $54.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Citigroup in a report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Citigroup from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $65.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.85.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Citigroup in the 4th quarter worth approximately $867,599,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 18.4% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 29,756,568 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,881,805,000 after buying an additional 4,620,867 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $2,109,120,000. Greenhaven Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Citigroup by 22.4% in the 4th quarter. Greenhaven Associates Inc. now owns 16,113,305 shares of the company’s stock worth $828,868,000 after acquiring an additional 2,948,512 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Citigroup by 42.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,484,540 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,709,000 after acquiring an additional 1,930,296 shares during the period. 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.