Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) – What Are Researchers Saying About This Stock?

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, fifteen have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $79.38.

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $78.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Monday, August 3rd.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG stock opened at $63.86 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.82 and a 200-day moving average of $66.97. Citizens Financial Group has a one year low of $47.96 and a one year high of $75.33. The company has a market cap of $26.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.72.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 29.9% in the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 883 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 6.9% during the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 9,245 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 17.6% during the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 39,976 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,801,000 after buying an additional 5,983 shares during the last quarter. Andra AP fonden increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 94.7% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 269,900 shares of the bank’s stock worth $18,912,000 after buying an additional 131,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% during the second quarter. Junto Capital Management LP now owns 1,307,340 shares of the bank’s stock worth $91,605,000 after buying an additional 42,248 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Its principal subsidiary, Citizens Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through branches, digital channels and other delivery platforms.

The company’s consumer banking activities include checking and savings accounts, residential mortgages, home equity lending, credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. Through its commercial banking operations, Citizens provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, capital markets services and other solutions for companies and institutional clients.