Cerity Partners LLC Increases Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 22.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,499 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 67,241 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $15,340,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CFG. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 262.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 936 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CFG. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.80.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.7 %

CFG stock opened at $48.47 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $42.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $39.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.07. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.13 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.14%.

Citizens Financial Group 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.