Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 31,280,000 shares, an increase of 7.5% from the May 31st total of 29,090,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.4 days. Approximately 1.7% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of C. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in shares of Citigroup by 123.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,716,442 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,005,749,000 after purchasing an additional 17,525,484 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Citigroup by 18.4% during the first 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Citigroup by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,755,277 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,273,411,000 after acquiring an additional 1,836,283 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 17,775,952 shares of the company’s stock worth $914,395,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter worth approximately $867,599,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Citigroup Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE C traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $64.46. 6,573,828 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,991,079. The stock has a market cap of $122.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $62.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Citigroup has a 12-month low of $38.17 and a 12-month high of $65.22.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 12th. The company reported $1.58 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by $0.29. Citigroup had a return on equity of 6.17% and a net margin of 4.90%. The firm had revenue of $21.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.86 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 5.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on C shares. StockNews.com upgraded Citigroup from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Citigroup from $56.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Citigroup in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Citigroup in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Citigroup from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citigroup presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $65.16.

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.