Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Raises Stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 25.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,544 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,786 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CFG. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth about $108,864,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11,167.0% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,347,537 shares of the bank’s stock worth $55,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,577 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank’s stock worth $294,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,390 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew 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 worth $287,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,098,684 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 291.5% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,352,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $60,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,999 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Citizens Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $53.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 price target on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.57.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $50.59 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $21.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $51.53 and a 200-day moving average of $45.41. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.60 and a 52 week high of $55.24.

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

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 29th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.06%.

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.