Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Earns “Strong-Buy” Rating from Raymond James

Raymond James restated their strong-buy rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $48.00 price objective on the bank’s stock, down from their previous price objective of $58.00.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on CFG. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $45.22.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE CFG opened at $35.43 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $41.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.62. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $32.60 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.81.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. Equities research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CFG. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,900,115 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,570,989,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131,838 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,929,591 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $477,043,000 after purchasing an additional 124,860 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,570,083 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $462,547,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298,040 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,683,111 shares of the bank’s stock worth $423,733,000 after buying an additional 1,672,204 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,247,238 shares of the bank’s stock worth $273,378,000 after buying an additional 374,850 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.