Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Grows Stock Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 358,490 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,725 shares during the period. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. owned approximately 0.08% of Citizens Financial Group worth $13,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Trust N.A. purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $228,000. Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 203.1% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 7,259 shares of the bank’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 4,864 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $241,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 377,711 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $12,517,000 after buying an additional 62,207 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CVA Family Office LLC purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CFG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Argus raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $36.50 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.60.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total transaction of $170,357.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 33,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,454,401.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG traded down $0.01 during trading on Friday, hitting $43.23. The company had a trading volume of 5,772,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,510,781. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.77 and a fifty-two week high of $43.96.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.01). Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 10.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.87%.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.