Forsta AP Fonden Boosts Stock Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,300 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $4,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 35.9% in the first quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 78,203 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,838,000 after purchasing an additional 20,649 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 101.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 761,679 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $27,641,000 after purchasing an additional 383,947 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,180,000. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 642.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 272,676 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $9,895,000 after purchasing an additional 235,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,045.4% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 25,692 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $932,000 after purchasing an additional 23,449 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Raymond James assumed coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Stephens increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.80.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CFG opened at $42.74 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.45 billion, a PE ratio of 15.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.07. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $41.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.81 and a 12 month high of $44.39.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 10.74%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 60.87%.

Citizens Financial Group 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.