Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Sells 564 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH cut its position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,088 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 564 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.9% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,391,319 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,575,006,000 after buying an additional 2,799,127 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.0% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,577,041 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,775,000 after purchasing an additional 241,869 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,383,000 after purchasing an additional 8,203,831 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 18.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,297,989 shares of the bank’s stock worth $720,392,000 after purchasing an additional 2,785,751 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 5.7% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,594,481 shares of the bank’s stock worth $310,732,000 after purchasing an additional 621,715 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on CFG shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Citigroup raised Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. TheStreet raised Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $35.84 on Thursday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.77 and a 12-month high of $36.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.76. The stock has a market cap of $16.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 1.36.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.26). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total value of $151,198.32. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.