NEW YORK — Citigroup Inc. said today that first-quarter earnings tripled to $7.88 billion compared with the year-ago quarter.

The bank said it had earnings of $3.62 per share, up from $1.06 per share in the first quarter of 2020.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $2.56 per share.

The U.S. bank posted revenue of $21.7 billion in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $19.33 billion, which also beat Street forecasts but fell below year-ago revenue of $20.7 billion. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected revenue of $18.91 billion.

Citigroup shares have risen 18% since the beginning of the year, while the S&P’s 500 index has risen roughly 10%. The stock has increased 61% in the past 12 months.