Legal & General Group Plc Acquires New Stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Legal & General Group Plc bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 2,957,527 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $207,234,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $661,052,000 after buying an additional 32,264 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 270,484 shares of the bank’s stock worth $15,799,000 after acquiring an additional 85,052 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 991,510 shares of the bank’s stock worth $57,914,000 after acquiring an additional 94,774 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 51.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 58,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,426,000 after purchasing an additional 20,008 shares during the period. Finally, Systematic Financial Management LP grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 20.7% in the fourth quarter. Systematic Financial Management LP now owns 100,617 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,877,000 after purchasing an additional 17,225 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on CFG shares. Stephens raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of CFG stock opened at $70.48 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market cap of $29.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50 day moving average of $71.34 and a 200-day moving average of $65.65. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.96 and a 12-month high of $75.33.

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

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 39.91%.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. The trade was a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.