Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CFG. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays lowered Citizens Financial Group from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $37.13.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE CFG opened at $34.11 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $36.38. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $33.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.64 billion, a PE ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 1.38.

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

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.93%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total value of $213,219.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 37,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,265,704.60. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $1,959,000. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,296,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,970,000 after purchasing an additional 431,624 shares during the period. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 66.0% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 199,260 shares of the bank’s stock worth $6,603,000 after buying an additional 79,247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 3,222.9% during the third quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,163,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,168,000 after buying an additional 1,128,000 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.