Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives $35.00 Average PT from Analysts

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $35.00.

CFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Citigroup raised Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. TheStreet raised Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFG. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 23.1% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 10,537 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 1,980 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 53,879 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 12,350 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 57,027 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,585,000 after purchasing an additional 3,531 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 9.3% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 71,237 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,229,000 after purchasing an additional 6,060 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 38,619 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,751,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE:CFG opened at $35.84 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a PE ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.67 and a 200-day moving average of $29.76. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $36.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.26). The company had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.21 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.69%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.02%.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.