Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Price Target Cut to $89.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $89.00 in a report published on Monday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the bank’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CFG. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $79.60.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:CFG opened at $64.75 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $27.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.66. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $47.96 and a 52 week high of $75.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $70.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.50.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.91%.

Insider Activity 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $3,415,046,000. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,953,372 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $355,909,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,081,725 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $296,824,000 after acquiring an additional 678,601 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,719,160 shares of the bank’s stock worth $282,927,000 after purchasing an additional 28,602 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.