Weiss Asset Management LP Takes $1.01 Million Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 16,860 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $1,011,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 2.4% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,531 shares of the bank’s stock worth $472,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,838 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $362,000 after purchasing an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 39.5% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 36,932 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 10,466 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 93.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,000 after purchasing an additional 4,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 5.2% during the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 65,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,934,000 after buying an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. 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 Michelle Moosally sold 6,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.16, for a total value of $376,068.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 22,565 shares in the company, valued at $1,402,640.40. This represents a 21.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.67% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on CFG. Truist Financial upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $78.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Seventeen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.55.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $71.14 on Tuesday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $45.90 and a 12 month high of $74.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market cap of $30.08 billion, a PE ratio of 15.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.13.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 39.91%.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.