Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Issues Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.10), RTT News reports. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG stock opened at $32.90 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.38. Citizens Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $22.77 and a fifty-two week high of $36.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $33.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.58.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 60.87%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 644,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,358,000 after purchasing an additional 18,917 shares in the last quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 25.8% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,286 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 4,566 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $247,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 261,455 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,665,000 after purchasing an additional 1,572 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LifePro Asset Management purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $4,000,000. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CFG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays cut shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. TheStreet upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Citigroup raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.88.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company that provides retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, corporations, and institutions in the United States. The company operates in two segments, Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking.