Financial Contrast: Citigroup (C) and The Competition

Citigroup (NYSE:C) is one of 924 publicly-traded companies in the “Banks” industry, but how does it compare to its competitors? We will compare Citigroup to related businesses based on the strength of its profitability, analyst recommendations, earnings, risk, valuation, institutional ownership and dividends.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

71.7% of Citigroup shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 47.5% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of Citigroup shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 9.8% of shares of all “Banks” companies are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Dividends

Citigroup pays an annual dividend of $2.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.1%. Citigroup pays out 28.9% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. As a group, “Banks” companies pay a dividend yield of 9.1% and pay out 29.0% of their earnings in the form of a dividend. Citigroup has increased its dividend for 2 consecutive years.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a breakdown of recent ratings for Citigroup and its competitors, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Citigroup	0	4	13	1	2.83
Citigroup Competitors	7404	29819	27200	1376	2.34

Citigroup currently has a consensus target price of $149.33, indicating a potential upside of 17.49%. As a group, “Banks” companies have a potential upside of 15.41%. Given Citigroup’s stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, equities research analysts clearly believe Citigroup is more favorable than its competitors.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Citigroup and its competitors revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Net Income	Price/Earnings Ratio
Citigroup	$168.30 billion	$14.31 billion	13.73
Citigroup Competitors	$83.95 billion	$2.40 billion	20.13

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

Profitability

This table compares Citigroup and its competitors’ 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	14.90%	9.32%	0.91%

Volatility & Risk

Citigroup has a beta of 1.12, indicating that its stock price is 12% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Citigroup’s competitors have a beta of 0.50, indicating that their average stock price is 50% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Summary

Citigroup beats its competitors on 10 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.