Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $35.88.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CFG shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Citigroup upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a research note on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th.

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 on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total value of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 57,592,192 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,749,075,000 after buying an additional 2,540,392 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 35,157,079 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,165,106,000 after buying an additional 1,199,158 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,577,041 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,775,000 after buying an additional 241,869 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,383,000 after buying an additional 8,203,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,297,989 shares of the bank’s stock worth $720,392,000 after buying an additional 2,785,751 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:CFG opened at $32.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.28 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.58. The company has a market cap of $15.08 billion, a PE ratio of 10.58 and a beta of 1.38. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $22.77 and a 52-week high of $36.38.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.11%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.02%.

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.