Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Given New $57.00 Price Target at Evercore ISI

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) had its price objective hoisted by Evercore ISI from $55.00 to $57.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the bank’s stock.

CFG has been the subject of several other research reports. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. They set an “overweight” rating for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $57.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.10.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 2.2%

NYSE CFG opened at $52.23 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $22.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $49.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.49. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $32.60 and a 52 week high of $53.00.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 515.8% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 219,090 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,124,000 after purchasing an additional 183,512 shares during the period. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 56.2% in the 2nd quarter. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,849 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $172,000 after purchasing an additional 1,385 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 53,194 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,380,000 after purchasing an additional 5,176 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 29.6% in the 2nd quarter. Advisory Services Network LLC now owns 9,710 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,219 shares during the period. Finally, State of Wyoming acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth $39,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.