Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Stock: Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Raises Stake

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 1,399.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 376,226 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 351,143 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $23,988,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,415,046,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 7,979.7% during the third 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. lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1,252.4% during the third 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. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $223,386,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $207,234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CFG shares. Argus set a $80.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $70.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $89.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Finally, Stephens cut their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $77.47.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $64.25 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.06 billion, a PE ratio of 12.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $67.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.16. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.00 and a 12 month high of $75.33.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.34 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 18.07%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.05 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.30 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $0.52 dividend. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 41.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citizens Financial Group news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. This trade represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Its principal subsidiary, Citizens Bank, provides banking and financial services to consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutional clients.

The company offers consumer deposit accounts, residential mortgages, home equity financing, credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. Its commercial banking activities include business loans, equipment financing, treasury management, capital markets services and investment banking.