Traders Buy Large Volume of Put Options on Citigroup (NYSE:C)

Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 64,187 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 26% compared to the typical daily volume of 51,097 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citigroup

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Paladin Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Citigroup in the second quarter valued at $27,000. Pin Oak Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Citigroup during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. TD Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citigroup during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, IMG Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Citigroup by 197.6% in the 1st quarter. IMG Wealth Management Inc. now owns 244 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 162 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 71.72% of the company’s stock.

Key Citigroup News

Here are the key news stories impacting Citigroup this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup reported third-quarter EPS of $2.85, above the approximately $2.65 analyst consensus, while revenue rose 7.9% year over year to about $23.85 billion. Net income increased 40% to $5.2 billion, with Services and Wealth revenue each rising 15%. Reuters earnings report
• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its profitability and return outlook, citing Services growth, AI-related efficiencies and disciplined capital deployment. Citi also increased its dividend and expanded shareholder returns, including buybacks. Zacks earnings call highlights
• Positive Sentiment: Royal Bank of Canada maintained an “outperform” rating and set a $135 price target, implying potential upside from the stock’s recent level, although the target was reduced from $150. Analyst price target report
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy options activity indicated elevated bearish positioning, with 64,187 put contracts traded—about 26% above typical volume. This signals caution but does not establish the stock’s fundamental direction.
• Neutral Sentiment: A Treasury review found that large U.S. banks’ reputation-risk policies could influence access to banking services based on political or social considerations. The finding may increase regulatory scrutiny for the industry, though it did not announce a Citigroup-specific penalty. CNBC Treasury review
• Negative Sentiment: Investors questioned whether the earnings beat was durable: trading and investment-banking gains weakened sequentially, management expects fourth-quarter trading revenue to decline sharply, and deal activity is cooling. MarketBeat analysis
• Negative Sentiment: Higher credit-loss provisions, a flat U.S. card business, weaker capital ratios and a softer cost outlook added to concerns about future profitability. Consequently, the stock’s strong headline results have not yet restored investor confidence.

Citigroup Stock Performance

C traded down $1.79 on Wednesday, hitting $122.74. 6,561,930 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,436,311. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.71. The company has a 50 day moving average of $133.46 and a 200-day moving average of $131.64. Citigroup has a 12-month low of $95.00 and a 12-month high of $147.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.35 billion, a PE ratio of 13.29, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 1.13.

Citigroup (NYSE:C) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 13th. The company reported $2.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.65 by $0.20. Citigroup had a net margin of 10.23% and a return on equity of 10.15%. The business had revenue of $23.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.72 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.86 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citigroup will post 11.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Citigroup Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.67 dividend. This represents a $2.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This is a positive change from Citigroup’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Citigroup’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital set a $155.00 price objective on Citigroup in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Citigroup from $154.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Citigroup from $162.00 to $165.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Citigroup from $149.00 to $147.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Citigroup from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $150.79.

About Citigroup

Citigroup Inc is a global financial services company headquartered in New York City and listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol C. Through its subsidiaries and businesses, Citi provides banking, lending, investment, payments, wealth management and other financial services to consumers, businesses, governments and institutional clients.

Citi’s principal businesses include Services, which supports institutional clients with treasury, trade, securities services and related solutions; Markets, which provides sales, trading, research and financing services; Banking, which offers investment banking and corporate banking; and Wealth, which provides private banking and wealth management.