Citigroup Inc announced it was initiating coverage of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) in a research note on Tuesday. Citigroup analysts assigned a Neutral rating to the stock with a price target of $53, which represents an upside of around 4.5% from the company’s current trading price.
Consensus rating of Hold
The Citigroup analysts believe that Twitter has potential for growth, and the current valuation is based on long-term bull case assumptions for the key metrics such as user growth and monetization. Citigroup analyst Mark May added, “While quarterly [monthly active users] results are difficult to predict, stock momentum in the last five months could continue near-term as consensus estimates still appear too low.”
Other analysts have also issued their verdict on the stock recently. Topeka Capital Market gave a Buy rating to Twitter with a price target of $63.00 in a research note on Monday. In a research note on October 10th, analysts at Evercore Partners assigned a Buy rating to the stock and raised the price target from $55.00 to $65.00. Susquehanna analysts maintained a Neutral rating on the micro-blogging site in a research note on October 10th, and raised the price target from 45$ to $47. Overall, Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $52.59.
Separately, vice president Alexander Roetter unloaded 5,925 shares of the company in a transaction dated October 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.69, for a total value of $318,113.25.
Twitter to mend ties with developers
The micro-blogging site is expected to announce new tools at its developer conference on Wednesday to assist programmers in creating apps, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Developers have not been happy with Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) as the company has been enforcing stricter rules to launch apps on its website. However, with its first developer conference in four years, Twitter would try to allure developers with a new suite of tools called “Fabric.”
This new tool is supposed to prevent problems encountered by mobile developers such as bugs, tracking analytics and earning money, according to the WSJ. The new tools suite will be embedded with offerings from Crashlytics, a Boston-based service acquired by Twitter in 2013.
In pre-market trading Wednesday, Twitter shares were up 0.83% to $51.05, while year to date shares are up 16%.
