Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Acquired by Virtus Advisers LLC

Virtus Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 5,091.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 26,164 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,660 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group comprises 0.6% of Virtus Advisers LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 26th biggest holding. Virtus Advisers LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,668,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 94,191.5% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 112,233,279 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,155,994,000 after acquiring an additional 112,114,251 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,415,046,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 7,979.7% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,165,352 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $775,663,000 after purchasing an additional 12,014,785 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,252.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,204,563 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $586,883,000 after purchasing an additional 8,523,938 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,719,160 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $282,927,000 after purchasing an additional 28,602 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of CFG stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $65.17. 2,251,929 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,773,208. The company has a market cap of $27.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.69. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $49.00 and a 1-year high of $75.33.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 18.07%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.30 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 41.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CFG. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $81.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Evercore set a $74.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, October 27th. Raymond James Financial lowered their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $90.00 to $80.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 24th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.79.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through Citizens Bank and related businesses, it provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, personal and business loans, credit cards, wealth management, and commercial lending and cash-management services. The company also provides capital markets and other financial services to corporate clients.