Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.13.

CFG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wedbush reduced their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $34.99 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $33.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.89. The company has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.68 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. Citizens Financial Group has a one year low of $22.77 and a one year high of $36.38.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm’s revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.87%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 82,032 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,977,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 21,343 shares of the bank’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 26,737 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 11,071 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 439 shares during the period. Finally, Connable Office Inc. raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 17,319 shares of the bank’s stock worth $574,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.