Brokerages Set Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) PT at $52.35

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Buy” from the nineteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $53.95.

Several research firms recently commented on CFG. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 9th.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Trust Co. of Vermont raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 177.5% during the 2nd quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 641 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 344.8% during the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 645 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 97.1% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 16,900.0% during the 2nd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 680 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of CFG opened at $53.20 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.80. Citizens Financial Group has a twelve month low of $32.60 and a twelve month high of $54.50. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $50.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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

Citizens Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

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.