Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2016 results before markets opened Wednesday morning. The global bank posted diluted quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $1.14 on revenue of $17.0 billion. In the same period a year ago, the bank reported diluted EPS of $1.02 on revenue of $18.5 billion. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the consensus estimates for EPS of $1.12 on revenue of $17.3 billion.

For the full year, Citi reported EPS of $4.72 and revenues of $69.9 billion, compared with 2015 EPS of $5.40 and revenues of $76.4 billion. Analysts had estimated EPS of $4.71 and revenues of $70.45 billion.

Revenues at Citicorp rose 6%, driven by increases of 11% in the bank’s institutional clients group and a 2% boost in its global consumer banking group.

Citi reported that Citi Holdings revenues fell 79% year over year, reflecting the absence of net gains from asset sales. As of the end of the fourth quarter, Citi Holdings assets were $54 billion, 33% below the prior year period and 11% below the prior quarter, primarily reflecting continued asset sales. As of January 18, 2017, Citigroup had signed agreements to reduce Citi Holdings assets by an additional $9 billion.

Citigroup will no longer report Citi Holdings results separately after this quarter. At its peak, Citi Holdings had over $800 billion in assets, generating sometimes multibillion dollar losses in a single quarter. Today, its $54 billion of assets are only 3% of Citigroup’s balance sheet.

The bank’s allowance for loan losses totaled $12.1 billion for the quarter, down from $12.6 billion in the prior year quarter. Loans totaled $624 billion, up 1% year over year, and up 3% in constant dollars.

CEO Michael Corbat said:

Our core businesses are beginning to produce the returns our investors expect and deserve. In 2016, we returned nearly $11 billion in capital to our shareholders. Even with this capital return, we ended the year with a Common Equity Tier 1 Capital ratio of 12.5%, 40 basis points higher than when we started the year, showing the capability of this franchise to consistently generate and return significant amounts of capital.

The bank did not offer guidance in its press release, but the consensus estimates call for first-quarter EPS of $1.30 on revenues of $18.26 billion. The EPS estimate for the 2017 fiscal year is $5.23 on revenues of $72.82 billion.

Shares traded down about 0.6% in the premarket this morning to $58.01, having closed on Tuesday at $58.38. The current 52-week range is $34.52 to $61.63. The consensus 12-month price target on the stock was $64.31 before results were announced.

Get Our Free Investment Newsletter

I have read, and agree to the Terms of Use

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.