Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.93.

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wedbush decreased 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Barclays downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. TheStreet raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In related 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 transaction of $151,198.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at $1,471,902.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,959,000. Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% during the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,296,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,970,000 after acquiring an additional 431,624 shares in the last quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 3,222.9% in the third quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,163,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 539,730 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,887,000 after acquiring an additional 7,205 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.2 %

CFG stock opened at $34.98 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a twelve month low of $22.77 and a twelve month high of $36.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.83.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.