Citigroup Stock Gains After Analyst Raises Rating, Price Target

Shares of Citigroup Inc. rose 0.8% in premarket trade Tuesday, after the J.P. Morgan analyst Vivek Juneja upgraded the banking giant on the belief that the Costco Wholesale co-branding deal should boost revenue and return on assets. Juneja raised his rating to overweight, after being at neutral for three years. "One of our concerns about Citi has been about tepid fundamentals and loss of market share in key businesses such as U.S. credit cards," Juneja wrote in a note to clients. "The Costco co-branding acquisition should reverse this in U.S. credit cards." Juneja also raised his stock price target to $58, which is 8.4% above Monday's closing price of $53.49, from $54. The stock has lost 3.1% in the past three months through Monday, while the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF has slipped 0.1% and the S&P 500 has gained 2.1%.