Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Holdings Boosted by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 19.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,304 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,559 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CFG. Norges Bank bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $117,372,000. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 96.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,472,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,642 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 35,157,079 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,165,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,199,158 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 130.0% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,955,230 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,796,000 after purchasing an additional 1,105,011 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,398.6% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,069,855 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $35,455,000 after purchasing an additional 998,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CFG. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wedbush cut their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.13.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $41.67. The company had a trading volume of 260,084 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,406,023. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $36.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.34. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.77 and a 12 month high of $41.94. The firm has a market cap of $18.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.10.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.01). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.87%.

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.