Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.42 on May 15th

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share by the bank on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th.

Citizens Financial Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.5% annually over the last three years. Citizens Financial Group has a payout ratio of 41.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Citizens Financial Group to earn $4.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.8%.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 0.4 %

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $32.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.38. Citizens Financial Group has a 1-year low of $22.77 and a 1-year high of $36.38. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total value of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased 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 valued at $21,358,000 after buying an additional 18,917 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 25.8% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,286 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $765,000 after buying an additional 4,566 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $247,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% in 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 buying an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Finally, LifePro Asset Management bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,000,000. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted 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 research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective 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. Barclays downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average 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.