Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Invests $677,000 in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 9,658 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $677,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CFG. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth $3,415,046,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $661,052,000 after acquiring an additional 32,264 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,217,975 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $655,242,000 after acquiring an additional 298,779 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,000,750 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $467,389,000 after acquiring an additional 1,953,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 56.9% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,722,559 shares of the bank’s stock worth $451,075,000 after acquiring an additional 2,799,050 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $9,323,623.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Truist Financial increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.25.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG opened at $69.86 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.96 and a 12-month high of $75.33. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.27 and a 200-day moving average of $65.62. The stock has a market cap of $29.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.67.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.