Empowered Funds LLC Buys 22,484 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 182.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,775 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 22,484 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $2,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $661,052,000 after purchasing an additional 32,264 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,217,975 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $655,242,000 after purchasing an additional 298,779 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,000,750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,389,000 after purchasing an additional 1,953,372 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $451,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,574,714 shares of the bank’s stock worth $384,029,000 after buying an additional 763,098 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Argus set a $80.00 target price on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.05.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 1.6%

CFG stock opened at $72.45 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $46.53 and a fifty-two week high of $74.70. The business’s 50-day moving average is $69.24 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market cap of $30.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.67.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 30th will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 39.91%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. This trade represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michelle Moosally sold 6,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 22,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,402,640.40. The trade was a 21.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

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.