Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Announces Earnings Results

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10), RTT News reports. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 13.19%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 1.8 %

CFG stock opened at $33.00 on Thursday. Citizens Financial Group has a 1-year low of $22.77 and a 1-year high of $36.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $15.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 1.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $30.56.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.09%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total value of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,383,000 after purchasing an additional 8,203,831 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $192,928,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,297,989 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $720,392,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,751 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 57,592,192 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,749,075,000 after acquiring an additional 2,540,392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 116.2% during the 4th quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 2,000,686 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $78,767,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,509 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CFG. Barclays lowered Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Wedbush reduced their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.88.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking.