Citigroup Raises Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Price Target to $43.00

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) had its price objective lifted by Citigroup from $39.00 to $43.00 in a research note released on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the bank’s stock.

CFG has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays lowered Citizens Financial Group from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted 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. TheStreet raised Citizens Financial Group from a c+ rating to a b- rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $35.93.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:CFG opened at $34.55 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $36.38. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $33.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.87%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of Citizens Financial Group 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 transaction, the insider now owns 37,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,265,704.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,959,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd raised its position in 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. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,128,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 539,730 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,887,000 after buying an additional 7,205 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

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.