Morgan Stanley Raises Citigroup (NYSE:C) Price Target to $86.00

Citigroup (NYSE:C) had its price objective upped by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $79.00 to $86.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 38.06% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on C. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Citigroup from $75.00 to $71.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 11th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Citigroup from $63.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Citigroup from $60.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.69.

Citigroup Price Performance

C stock traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $62.29. 2,662,856 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 14,499,926. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94. Citigroup has a 12-month low of $38.17 and a 12-month high of $67.81. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $60.85 and its 200 day moving average is $61.67. The company has a market cap of $118.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 1.45.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 12th. The company reported $1.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.13. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.26% and a net margin of 4.95%. The company had revenue of $20.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.37 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Citigroup will post 5.79 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. raised its holdings in Citigroup by 355.9% during the first quarter. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. now owns 19,115 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,209,000 after purchasing an additional 14,922 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 13.3% during the second quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 73,317 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,653,000 after purchasing an additional 8,593 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Citigroup by 13.4% during the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 201,456 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,739,000 after purchasing an additional 23,774 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 4,187,362 shares of the company’s stock valued at $215,398,000 after purchasing an additional 350,087 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BDF Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of Citigroup in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,861,000. 71.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.