Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Coverage Initiated at Stephens

Equities research analysts at Stephens initiated coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday. The firm set an “equal weight” rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CFG. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $75.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. Eighteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.88.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG traded down $0.09 during trading on Monday, reaching $67.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,452,401 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,923,091. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $63.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.39. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $40.25 and a 1 year high of $68.79. The company has a market cap of $28.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.68.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.03. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 16.21% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Michelle Moosally sold 6,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $376,068.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 22,565 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,640.40. The trade was a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CFG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $355,909,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 56.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,722,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $451,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799,050 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 89.4% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,731,592 shares of the bank’s stock worth $276,372,000 after purchasing an additional 2,232,806 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 136.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 3,513,388 shares of the bank’s stock worth $205,217,000 after purchasing an additional 2,027,255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,000,750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953,372 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.