Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Purchased by Farther Finance Advisors LLC

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 28.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,686 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,154 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,380,605 shares of the bank’s stock worth $425,293,000 after acquiring an additional 697,494 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank’s stock worth $294,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,390 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 8.9% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,801,856 shares of the bank’s stock worth $278,672,000 after purchasing an additional 554,618 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,730,786 shares of the bank’s stock worth $193,782,000 after purchasing an additional 41,704 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,703,836 shares of the bank’s stock worth $192,716,000 after purchasing an additional 86,237 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price 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. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price 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. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.35.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of CFG opened at $53.40 on Monday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $53.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $50.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $44.07. The company has a market cap of $23.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.23, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast 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 stock repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to purchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.