Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and sixteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.80.

CFG has been the subject of several research reports. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Stephens raised their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Robert W. Baird upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG stock opened at $69.67 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $71.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.95. The stock has a market cap of $29.34 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.66. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $47.96 and a 1 year high of $75.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86.

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

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $9,323,623.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter worth $3,415,046,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 7,016.6% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 39,561,872 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,772,100,000 after acquiring an additional 39,005,965 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 purchasing an additional 32,264 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased 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 worth $655,242,000 after purchasing an additional 298,779 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Bank, the company provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, credit cards, business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, investment banking, capital markets services and wealth management.