Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Upgraded at Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning,Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Stephens boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Friday, August 14th. Argus set a $80.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $90.00 to $89.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, September 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.38.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.5%

NYSE:CFG opened at $64.01 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $26.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.72. Citizens Financial Group has a one year low of $47.96 and a one year high of $75.33. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.90.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 319.8% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 424 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Its principal subsidiary, Citizens Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through branches, digital channels and other delivery platforms.

The company’s consumer banking activities include checking and savings accounts, residential mortgages, home equity lending, credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. Through its commercial banking operations, Citizens provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, capital markets services and other solutions for companies and institutional clients.