Citigroup Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors bought 591,300 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 213% compared to the average volume of 188,627 call options.

Institutional Trading of Citigroup

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in C. Orion Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Citigroup by 1,962.1% during the fourth quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 598 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Citigroup in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in Citigroup in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. 71.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citigroup Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of C traded up $0.19 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $61.54. 11,282,203 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 16,796,180. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.41. 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 firm has a market cap of $117.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.17, a PEG ratio of 0.92 and a beta of 1.49. Citigroup has a 12-month low of $38.17 and a 12-month high of $63.90.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.29 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $21.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.46 billion. Citigroup had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 6.17%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.86 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citigroup will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th will be issued a $0.53 dividend. This represents a $2.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 3rd. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is 62.72%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Citigroup from $87.00 to $86.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. HSBC increased their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $61.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Citigroup from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $58.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Citigroup from an “underweight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $46.00 to $65.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Citigroup currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $62.85.

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.