Critical Review: Citigroup (C) and Its Peers

Citigroup (NYSE:C) is one of 925 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it contrast to its rivals? We will compare Citigroup to related companies based on the strength of its institutional ownership, earnings, dividends, risk, valuation, profitability and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Citigroup and its rivals gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citigroup	$91.38 billion	$14.31 billion	14.99
Citigroup Competitors	$54.01 billion	$2.39 billion	22.47

Citigroup has higher revenue and earnings than its rivals. Citigroup is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than its rivals, indicating that it is currently more affordable than other companies in its industry.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent recommendations for Citigroup and its rivals, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citigroup	0	4	13	2	2.89
Citigroup Competitors	7361	29674	27085	1357	2.34

Citigroup currently has a consensus target price of $145.22, suggesting a potential upside of 4.61%. As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 10.40%. Given Citigroup’s rivals higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Citigroup has less favorable growth aspects than its rivals.

Dividends

Citigroup pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.9%. Citigroup pays out 28.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 8.8% and pay out 29.1% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Citigroup has raised its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Profitability

This table compares Citigroup and its rivals’ net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Citigroup	10.23%	10.15%	0.72%
Citigroup Competitors	14.93%	9.46%	0.92%

Institutional and Insider Ownership

71.7% of Citigroup shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.5% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of Citigroup shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Risk & Volatility

Citigroup has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citigroup’s rivals have a beta of 0.59, indicating that their average stock price is 41% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Citigroup beats its rivals on 9 of the 15 factors compared.

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. The Markets segment offers sales and trading services for equities, foreign exchange, rates, spread products, and commodities to corporate, institutional, and public sector clients; and market-making services, including asset classes, risk management solutions, financing, prime brokerage, research, securities clearing, and settlement. The banking segment includes investment banking; advisory services related to mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, and corporate defense activities; and corporate lending, which includes corporate and commercial banking. The U.S. Personal Banking segment provides co-branded cards and retail banking services. The Wealth segment provides financial services to high-net-worth clients through banking, lending, mortgages, investment, custody, and trust product offerings; and to professional industries, including law firms, consulting groups, accounting, and asset management. The company was founded in 1812 and is headquartered in New York, New York.