Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the sixteen analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $37.71.

A number of brokerages have commented on CFG. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $28.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Evercore ISI cut shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Monday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $52.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, June 30th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $36.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, July 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $29.00 to $27.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 29th.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $27.68 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $23.37 and a 1 year high of $44.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.78. The firm has a market cap of $13.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.29 and a beta of 1.35.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 19th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.00 by ($0.08). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 20.41% and a return on equity of 10.68%. The company had revenue of $3.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.09 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 16th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 2nd were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 1st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 38.18%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 1,980 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 29.7% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 53,879 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 12,350 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 57,027 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 71,237 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,229,000 after purchasing an additional 6,060 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 38,619 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,751,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Citizens Bank, National Association 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.