AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Reduces Stock Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc trimmed its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 10.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,174,283 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 143,931 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned 0.27% of Citizens Financial Group worth $52,514,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth $108,864,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 11,167.0% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,347,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $55,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,577 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 valued at $294,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,390 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 291.5% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,352,458 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $60,522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,006,999 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,915,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on CFG shares. Raymond James Financial set a $62.00 price target on Citizens Financial Group and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.86.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG stock opened at $51.75 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 15.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.79. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 13.26%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

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.