Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) to Repurchase $1.50 billion in Shares

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $40.27 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $32.60 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average of $38.77 and a 200-day moving average of $42.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler dropped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $43.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The firm moved its midcap bank industry view from Attractive to In-line, saying “higher and faster than expected” tariffs raise recession risks, will weigh on loan growth and in-turn, forward earnings and multiples. The group is “cheap,” but weaker for longer loan growth and inverted yield curve limit upside catalysts. Argus set a $45.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $44.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.89.

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.