Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Sets New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $62.50 to $71.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Citizens Financial Group traded as high as $68.66 and last traded at $68.4280, with a volume of 850076 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.12.

CFG has been the subject of a number of other reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Raymond James Financial cut Citizens Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $62.00 to $66.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays set a $77.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $65.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.77.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Royal Palms Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $1,029,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 13.7% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 17,935 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,048,000 after acquiring an additional 2,158 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 103.5% in the fourth quarter. Allstate Corp now owns 32,168 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,879,000 after purchasing an additional 16,361 shares during the last quarter. Summitry LLC bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $353,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 128,424 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,501,000 after purchasing an additional 7,062 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $60.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.11 billion, a PE ratio of 17.51, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.72.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 21st. The bank reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.16 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 15.19% and a return on equity of 7.89%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 4th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.55%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.