Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $74.86 and last traded at $74.6390, with a volume of 255917 shares. The stock had previously closed at $74.11.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.05.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.19. The company has a market capitalization of $31.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.67.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.The business’s revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.91%.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CFG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth approximately $3,415,046,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $355,909,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 2,799,050 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth $175,948,000. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth $174,108,000. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company 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.