Analysts Set Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Target Price at $56.57

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-one ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $56.5714.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CFG shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Raymond James Financial set a $62.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $48.50 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, August 1st.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 0.8%

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $51.00 on Tuesday. Citizens Financial Group has a 1-year low of $32.60 and a 1-year high of $55.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.79. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $51.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $45.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 7.48%. The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 29th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 47.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,548,977 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,306,817,000 after purchasing an additional 209,467 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,671,355 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,059,293,000 after acquiring an additional 283,321 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake 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 valued at $425,293,000 after acquiring an additional 697,494 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $294,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew 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 valued at $278,672,000 after acquiring an additional 554,618 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

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.