Pacer Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 85.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,638 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,266 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $3,489,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 35,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.3% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 856,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,315,000 after buying an additional 42,971 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter valued at about $3,177,000. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,399,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $287,932,000 after buying an additional 1,098,684 shares during the period. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,848,000. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on CFG shares. Raymond James Financial set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Baird R W downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Citizens Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $53.00 to $71.00 in a research note on Monday, September 29th. Finally, Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $57.57.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG opened at $58.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.51, a PEG ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.44 and a 200-day moving average of $51.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.60 and a 1-year high of $60.10.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 7.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 29th. This is a positive change from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 51.54%.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.