Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Stock Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 32.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 458,614 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 111,230 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned approximately 0.10% of Citizens Financial Group worth $20,069,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of CFG. Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 379,735 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,547,000 after purchasing an additional 6,236 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 669,596 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,302,000 after purchasing an additional 84,185 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 6,698 shares of the bank’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 694 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 594,583 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,019,000 after purchasing an additional 8,942 shares during the period. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $6,043,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CFG. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $49.06.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $37.50 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.06 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.86. The stock has a market cap of $16.39 billion, a PE ratio of 12.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.81.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.48%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.45%.

Citizens Financial Group 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.