Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,803,641 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 17,596 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $163,761,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CFG. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $87,173,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 326.3% in the 3rd quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 2,082,961 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $110,730,000 after purchasing an additional 1,594,326 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 160.4% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 2,448,050 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $142,991,000 after purchasing an additional 1,508,070 shares in the last quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 411.6% in the 4th quarter. Impax Asset Management Group plc now owns 1,729,587 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $101,025,000 after purchasing an additional 1,391,483 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 13.1% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,574,714 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $384,029,000 after purchasing an additional 763,098 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on CFG. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $73.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 31st. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.88.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 1.0%

CFG stock opened at $62.98 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.40 and a 12-month high of $68.79. The stock has a market cap of $26.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.89, a PEG ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.70. The business’s 50-day moving average is $62.18 and its 200 day moving average is $60.36.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.10 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 16.21%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.50%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, insider Susan Lamonica sold 13,258 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $769,494.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 165,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,632,956.84. This trade represents a 7.40% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michelle Moosally sold 6,050 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total transaction of $376,068.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 22,565 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,402,640.40. This trade represents a 21.14% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.