First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 128,743 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 9.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,514,258 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 128,743 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 0.35% of Citizens Financial Group worth $67,763,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth about $208,000. Deutsche Bank AG grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 48.9% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 2,790,291 shares of the bank’s stock worth $114,318,000 after purchasing an additional 916,760 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 236.1% during the 1st quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC now owns 1,879 shares of the bank’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 11.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 813,233 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,318,000 after purchasing an additional 83,055 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 59.5% during the 1st quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 436,042 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $17,864,000 after purchasing an additional 162,669 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE CFG opened at $55.54 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $48.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.73. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.60 and a 12-month high of $56.17.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.48% and a net margin of 14.17%.The firm had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This is a boost from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 29th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 51.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CFG has been the topic of several research reports. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Raymond James Financial set a $62.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.57.

Citizens Financial Group 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.