Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG – Get Rating) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $53.40.

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $69.00 to $62.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 28th. UBS Group upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Monday, May 16th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $56.50 to $57.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 5th.

In related news, Director Terrance Lillis bought 1,000 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 26th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $41.31 per share, with a total value of $41,310.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,000 shares in the company, valued at $82,620. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.48% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 40,828,453 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,850,754,000 after purchasing an additional 455,952 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 26.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 29,095,135 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,374,753,000 after buying an additional 6,009,500 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 19,377,461 shares of the bank’s stock worth $910,353,000 after buying an additional 606,445 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,383,000 after buying an additional 8,203,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,191,346 shares of the bank’s stock worth $507,304,000 after buying an additional 50,382 shares during the last quarter. 94.81% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Shares of CFG traded up $0.57 on Friday, hitting $40.87. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,575,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,227,773. The company has a market capitalization of $20.25 billion, a PE ratio of 8.66 and a beta of 1.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Citizens Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $36.76 and a fifty-two week high of $57.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $41.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $47.43.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 19th. The bank reported $0.93 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 30.67% and a return on equity of 10.69%. The firm had revenue of $1.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.63 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.41 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down .8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 4.62 EPS for the current year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 3rd were given a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 2nd. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 33.05%.

About Citizens Financial Group (Get Rating)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc operates as the bank holding company for Citizens Bank, National Association 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.

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