Citigroup: Financial Winners and Losers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Citigroup (C Quote) was among a handful of winning stocks in the financial sector during Wednesday's session, as most bank stocks traded higher with the U.S. indices.

Citigroup added 0.5% to $4.06, Bank of America (BAC Quote) climbed 1.3% to $14.99, JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote) rose by 1.3% to $43.17 and Goldman Sachs (GS Quote) was up 0.8% to $173.01.

Bank stocks overseas jumped on a flurry of headlines. Bank of Ireland (IRE Quote) shares surged nearly 22% to $10.45, reversing the previous session's decline, even as the bank's first-half net profit dropped 73% due to restructuring and impairment charges.

Similarly, Allied Irish Bank (AIB Quote) jumped 10.5% to $5.14, after falling hard during Tuesday's session.

Societe Generale, meanwhile, said that third-quarter net profit more than doubled from a year ago, sending shares higher in Paris.

Back in the U.S., Ambac Financial (ABK Quote) surged almost 40% to $1.55 after the insurer swung to a third-quarter profit thanks to derivatives gains. Fellow bond insurer MBIA (MBI Quote) jumping 11.3% to $4.57.

Radian Group (RDN Quote) shares also rallied by 9% to $6.47 after reporting a narrower-than-expected loss in the third quarter.

Among analyst moves Wednesday, BMO Capital Markets upgraded SunTrust Banks (STI Quote) to outperform from market perform. Shares were tacking on 0.8% to $19.81.

Elsewhere, Jefferies and Credit Suisse raised their price targets for MasterCard (MA Quote) to $250 and $260 from $240 and $255, respectively. The increased targets come a day after MasterCard reported third-quarter earnings that beat analyst estimates. Shares were lately adding 3.3% to $226.46.