7,681 Shares in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Purchased by Sapient Capital LLC

Sapient Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 7,681 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.7% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,594,481 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $310,732,000 after acquiring an additional 621,715 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 217.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,978,410 shares of the bank’s stock worth $213,821,000 after purchasing an additional 5,465,824 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,504,591 shares of the bank’s stock worth $215,562,000 after buying an additional 95,292 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.4% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,532,398 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $148,268,000 after buying an additional 332,222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,825,592 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $129,326,000 after buying an additional 168,157 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

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 value of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. StockNews.com raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted 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 report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.73.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $35.57 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89 and a beta of 1.36. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $22.77 and a one year high of $36.38. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $34.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $31.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.72%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.87%.

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.