Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Stock

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) had its price objective upped by stock analysts at Citigroup from $57.00 to $60.00 in a research note issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the bank’s stock. Citigroup’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 22.08% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on CFG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $48.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cowen assumed coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded Citizens Financial Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.05.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG traded up $0.57 on Monday, hitting $49.15. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,089,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,828,278. Citizens Financial Group has a 12-month low of $32.60 and a 12-month high of $49.68. The company has a market capitalization of $21.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $43.05 and a 200-day moving average of $42.41.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 13.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Salzhauer Michael grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,034.7% in the 4th quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 179,301 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,846,000 after buying an additional 163,500 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 16.6% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 16,957 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $742,000 after buying an additional 2,415 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 24.7% in the 4th quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 13,768 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $602,000 after buying an additional 2,730 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 43.7% in the 4th quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 41,768 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,828,000 after buying an additional 12,698 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 223,731 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,790,000 after buying an additional 7,534 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

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.