StockNews.com Upgrades Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) to “Hold”

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

CFG has been the subject of several other research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a market perform rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $35.93.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG stock opened at $34.55 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.52 and a beta of 1.38. Citizens Financial Group has a twelve month low of $22.77 and a twelve month high of $36.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during 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 was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

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

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 100.8% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 988 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Quarry LP boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 183.1% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,104 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $37,000 after acquiring an additional 714 shares during the last quarter. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.