Alaska Permanent Fund Corp Sells 725 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp lessened its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,575 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 725 shares during the period. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $2,703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of CFG. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 28.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,272 shares of the bank’s stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 3,815 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 336.3% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 1,693 shares of the bank’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,305 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $236,000. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 121.1% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 61,885 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,659,000 after buying an additional 33,897 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 44.1% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 82,548 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,212,000 after buying an additional 25,253 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CFG. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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. Argus upped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Wedbush dropped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.13.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total transaction of $213,219.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,265,704.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG traded down $0.78 during trading on Thursday, hitting $34.74. 505,862 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,798,208. The company has a market cap of $15.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.87 and a beta of 1.38. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.77 and a 1 year high of $36.38. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $33.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.87%.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.