Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 17.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,079,239 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,287,515 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.41% of Citizens Financial Group worth $272,046,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% during the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 35,352 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,582,000 after buying an additional 512 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 856,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,315,000 after buying an additional 42,971 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $3,177,000. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,399,905 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $287,932,000 after buying an additional 1,098,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 78.7% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 19,735 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $883,000 after acquiring an additional 8,693 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CFG shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Monday. Baird R W cut shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased 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. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $59.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.71.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG stock opened at $58.34 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $52.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44. The stock has a market cap of $25.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.62 and a beta of 0.74. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $32.60 and a 52-week high of $59.31.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.10 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 7.48%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 29th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.54%.

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.