Equitable Holdings Inc. Makes New $624,000 Investment in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Equitable Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,902 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $624,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth $3,415,046,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank’s stock worth $661,052,000 after buying an additional 32,264 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,217,975 shares of the bank’s stock worth $655,242,000 after buying an additional 298,779 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,000,750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $467,389,000 after buying an additional 1,953,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 56.9% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,722,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $451,075,000 after buying an additional 2,799,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of CFG stock opened at $69.76 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $47.96 and a twelve month high of $75.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.67.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. The company 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%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CFG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Stephens increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $68.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Sixteen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.25.

Citizens Financial Group Company 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.