MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. Sells 129,244 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 57.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 95,578 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 129,244 shares during the quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $3,916,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Heartland Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $398,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 19.2% during the first quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 54,870 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,248,000 after buying an additional 8,851 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 425.7% during the first quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 26,104 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,069,000 after buying an additional 21,138 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at $410,000. Finally, OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 37.9% in the 1st quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,126 shares of the bank’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,957 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CFG. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised Citizens Financial Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Friday, July 18th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Citigroup initiated coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.00.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $51.82 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $43.36. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.60 and a 1 year high of $52.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Friday, June 13th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

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.