Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 11.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,138 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 289 shares during the period. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $96,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $108,864,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11,167.0% in the first quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,347,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,577 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $294,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,390 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 291.5% in the second quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,352,458 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter valued at about $38,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $48.50 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.35.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $52.58 on Tuesday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.60 and a 52-week high of $53.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $49.85 and a 200-day moving average of $43.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.98, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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

Citizens Financial Group announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

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.