How to Buy Citigroup stock Now, Forecast and Dividend Guide
Citigroup is a leading bank stock that has many advantages for investors of all profiles. There are many good reasons to buy Citigroup stock in both the short and long term.
This guide will review the history and historical performance of the stock Citigroup offers before looking at its future prospects. To do this, we will look at many factors in order to formulate an objective and informed opinion for investors. We will also introduce you to an online broker that we believe is ideal for buying Citigroup stocks and many others.
Citigroup Stock Overview
Citigroup is one of the so-called “Big Four” banks and is the third-largest bank in the United States. The bank is also ranked 33rd in the Fortune 500 in 2021.
The bank has no less than 200 million customers in 160 countries worldwide and employs 204,000 people. The Financial Stability Board considers it as a “systemically important bank”, those that are more commonly called “too big to fail”. It has $23.6 trillion in assets on its books.
This is a considerable advantage since it implies that the U.S. government will come to the bank’s rescue in case of a major crisis threatening its survival. Citigroup also has a diverse revenue base, with retail, investment, and private banking activities, which gives it a reassuring risk profile.
Citigroup Stock Historical Price
The Citigroup stock is listed in the United States on the NYSE. The Citigroup stock symbol is “C,” and its ISIN code is US1729674242. It is a component of most major US stock indices such as the Dow Jones and the S&P 500.
Citigroup stock price has gained over 37% in the last 12 months, during which time it has traded between a low of $40 and a high of $80, showing volatility that may be of interest to short-term traders.
The stock has a market capitalization of $142 billion, and its P/E is 7.31, which makes it a cheap stock. It also pays a comfortable dividend of almost 3%. We will come back to these 2 points in more detail later in this guide. Before that, let’s take a look at Citigroup stock price history below.
Citigroup stock history
For the sake of relevance, we will focus our observations on the Citigroup stock history since the financial crisis of 2008, based on the monthly chart.
As can be seen on the Citigroup stock chart above, price fell sharply in 2008, from $300 per stock at the beginning of the year, to a historic low of $9.70 in March 2009.
However, since then, Citigroup stock price chart has shown a healthy and steady upward trend, although it remains far from its pre-crisis levels of 2008.
Citigroup stock today is stuck below visible resistance since 2018 around $80. However, the fundamentals we will discuss in the next section of this analysis suggest that this barrier is likely to be breached, and new multi-year highs for Citigroup stock are imminent.
Why Invest in Citigroup Stock? Points to Consider
Should I buy Citigroup stock ? Before deciding whether the C stock is a buy or sell, you should consider the company fundamentals, along with historical price movements and forecasts. This is what we will talk about in the following sections of this guide.
Citigroup stock pays a solid dividend that will grow
One of the major advantages of Citigroup stock is its high dividend. With a current dividend yield of 3%, Citigroup is the highest paying major U.S. bank.
And this dividend is set to increase drastically over the next few years. Indeed, although already comfortable, the Citigroup stock dividend yield remains well below its historical average. Indeed, the bank has reduced its dividend in the face of the pandemic to prevent any risk of default.
With the pandemic now under control thanks to the vaccines, the bank should increase its payouts again, and it is safe to expect that the yield will quickly return to last year’s level of close to 5%.
A long-term bet on rising interest rates
It is well known that banks’ profitability depends to a large extent on the level of interest rates set by central banks. The higher the interest rates, the more leeway banks have to make profits, especially on lending activities.
However, interest rates are currently at rock bottom in the US and Europe, and inflation is rising dangerously. This situation guarantees that interest rates will have to be raised significantly over the next few years. We can therefore expect the Citigroup profitability and earnings to rise, as well as its stock price.
A ridiculously cheap stock
Regardless of the ratio studied, the Citigroup stock is ridiculously cheap. Its price-to-book ratio is 0.79, which means that the stock is currently worth less than its assets. In comparison, JP Morgan’s P/E is over 10, Bank of America’s is almost 14, and Wells Fargo’s is 13.
A reorganization that promises increased profitability
Last but not least, we note that Citigroup recently announced a reorganization that should streamline its business and significantly increase its profitability. It plans to reduce or cease some of its activities in several countries, particularly in South East Asia and Western Europe, which have not provided satisfactory results. This will allow the company to focus on growth in high-potential regions such as Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.
Citigroup Stock Forecast and Prediction
Having attested to the strength of the stock profile, let’s look below at the Citigroup stock forecast. To do so, we’ll look at fundamental and technical forecasts, as well as advice from professional analysts.
Financial Citigroup forecast
Citigroup’s latest financial results came in well above expectations, especially in terms of earnings, with Q2 2021 EPS of $2.85, compared to consensus expectations of $1.97, and compared to EPS of $0.5 a year earlier. Revenue also beat expectations, but by a smaller margin. But what is most impressive about Citigroup stock price and its quarterly results is its ability to beat consensus EPS expectations.
Indeed, quarterly EPS has only come in below expectations once since the beginning of 2016 and has far exceeded expectations in each of the other quarters. In other words, the likelihood of negative surprises in Citigroup’s quarterly results is historically near zero.
Technical Citigroup forecast
After suffering from the cod-19 pandemic like most stocks, Citigroup stock price has posted a sharp recovery, from a low of $32 in March 2020 to a high of $80 in June 2021, a 150% increase in 15 months.
As seen on the Citigroup stock chart above, the stock also has the support of its nearby 50-, 100- and 200-week moving averages, which limits downside risks.
However, the $80 area is currently showing up as an obstacle. Still, we can expect a quick breakout of this resistance for many of the fundamental reasons we discussed earlier in this guide. In that case, investors would likely quickly target the psychological $100 mark for Citigroup stock quote.
Analyst ratings for Citigroup stock
The study of professional analysts’ forecasts and recommendations clearly confirms that Citigroup stock is a solid buying opportunity. Indeed, out of the 8 analysts who provide Citigroup stock forecast, all of them advise buying.
Moreover, their average target, which reaches $90.75, implies a powerful bullish potential of almost 30% compared to the current Citigroup stock price.
Where Can I Buy Citigroup Stock?
It is sometimes difficult to choose an online broker as there are so many. That’s why we’ve reviewed many of them to determine which is the best one to buy Citigroup stock. And the name that came up most often was the broker ZFX
ZFX, a world-class MT4 Broker
This is a relatively new broker, as it was only created in 2018. However, its seriousness is not to be questioned, as the FCA regulates ZFX.
ZFX provides its clients with the MT4 trading platform, which is the most widely used globally thanks to its many technical analysis and automated trading advantages. Finally, it is worth noting that ZFX offers its clients to trade stocks, indices, forex and commodities.
How to Buy Citigroup Stock Easily
Buying Citigroup stock through the broker ZFX is very simple and fast. Indeed, the account opening is done entirely online, and takes only a few minutes. All you have to do is follow these steps:
- Register with ZFX
- Verify your ZFX account
- Make your first deposit
- Buy Citigroup stock
Let’s go through each of these steps in detail.
1 – Register with ZFX
For this first step, you will need to go to the ZFX broker’s website, and click on the “open an account” button. You will then have to fill in a registration form with several personal details, including your phone number, which will be verified by SMS.
After filling out the form, click on the “next” button at the bottom of the page. Immediately after this step, ZFX will display your MT4 login and password, and invite you to download the platform.
At this stage, you can also make use of the ZFX demo account, which allows you to practice trading risk free. This is a valuable tool especially for beginners, who can get to know the platform before they start investing.
2 – Make your first deposit
You will now be asked to make your first deposit. To do this, you will need to click on the “Make a deposit” button on the screen that is displayed immediately after registration. You will then be asked to choose a payment method. Let’s take Mastercard as an example:
On this screen you will be asked to indicate the deposit amount and then click on the “Confirm Deposit” button. You will then be asked for your credit card information before the final validation of the payment.
3 – Account verification
Finally, it will also be necessary to proceed with the account verification by sending supporting documents.
As shown in the image above, you will need to upload the documents directly to the ZFX website. Once ZFX validates your documents, you will then be ready to buy Citigroup stock.
4 – Buy Citigroup stock
You can now proceed with the final step, which is to invest in Citigroup. To do so, in your account, search for Citigroup under its symbol ‘C’, in the Shares section. You will then be able to access the page dedicated to Citigroup, and invest the amount you wish to invest.
Bottom Line: Should you Buy Citigroup Stock?
Since the end of the 2008 financial crisis, Citigroup stock price performance has been generally bullish, and the rise in interest rates in the United States and elsewhere in the world over the next few years should enable it to move up a gear.
Moreover, analysts are unanimous on the bullish outlook for Citigroup stock price and are posting ambitious targets. But on top of that, Citigroup is a dividend stock whose already solid yield is also set to rise over the next few years.
If you too want to invest in Citigroup stock, you will need a good online broker. In this regard, we highly recommend you to check out the broker ZFX, which in our opinion, is one of the most successful brokers for buying Citigroup stock and many other financial stocks.