Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CFG. Citigroup raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. TheStreet raised Citizens Financial Group from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $36.29.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 3.3 %

CFG opened at $33.99 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a 12 month low of $22.77 and a 12 month high of $36.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The stock has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.38. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $33.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.63.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.10). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.87%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,959,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 2,992 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,296,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $42,970,000 after buying an additional 431,624 shares during the period. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3,222.9% in the third quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,163,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,168,000 after buying an additional 1,128,000 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% in the third quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 280,574 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,373,000 after buying an additional 4,988 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

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.