Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Short Interest Up 22.8% in March

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,160,000 shares, an increase of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 9,900,000 shares. Approximately 2.8% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 9.8 %

NYSE:CFG traded down $4.10 on Thursday, reaching $37.56. 2,433,034 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,716,219. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. Citizens Financial Group has a 12 month low of $32.06 and a 12 month high of $49.25. The company has a market capitalization of $16.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.40, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.81.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.45%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $51.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $58.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup lowered their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.06.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $339,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579,313 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $243,431,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,683,111 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $423,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,204 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,060,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,144 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,186,364 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $270,715,000 after buying an additional 1,507,536 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.