abrdn plc Grows Stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

abrdn plc boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 66.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 199,260 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 79,247 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $6,603,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 217.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,978,410 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $213,821,000 after buying an additional 5,465,824 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1,213.2% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,746,064 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $100,395,000 after buying an additional 3,460,792 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 95.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,484,439 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $66,584,000 after buying an additional 1,213,573 shares during the last quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 3,222.9% during the 3rd quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,163,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,168,000 after buying an additional 1,128,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 693.6% during the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 1,171,070 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,385,000 after buying an additional 1,023,504 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total value of $213,219.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,265,704.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CFG shares. Piper Sandler upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $41.00 in a report on Friday. Barclays cut Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Argus raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $37.13.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $35.15 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $33.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $22.77 and a twelve month high of $36.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74 and a beta of 1.38.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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 given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.78%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.87%.

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.