O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 518,444 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 45,469 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $22,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. D.A. Davidson & CO. acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $209,000. Townsquare Capital LLC increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 22.0% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 19,846 shares of the bank’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 3,580 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $227,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 48.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 115,529 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,745,000 after purchasing an additional 37,517 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 78,414 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,220,000 after buying an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on CFG shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $58.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.67.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $40.26 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $17.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $44.16. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.06 and a 1-year high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.45%.

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.