Brokerages Set Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Price Target at $43.07

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $43.07.

CFG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total value of $170,357.88. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 33,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,454,401.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CFG. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,886 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,332,185,000 after buying an additional 1,552,333 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3,234.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,100,988 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,669,000 after buying an additional 1,067,971 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 680.1% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 803,919 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,804,000 after buying an additional 700,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after buying an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $42.61 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.07. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $43.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 6.21%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 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.