Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 7,343 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 222% compared to the typical volume of 2,278 call options.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,900,115 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,570,989,000 after purchasing an additional 1,131,838 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,060,689,000 after buying an additional 1,615,144 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,929,591 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $477,043,000 after acquiring an additional 124,860 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 27.8% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,570,083 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $462,547,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298,040 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,683,111 shares of the bank’s stock worth $423,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $44.96 on Thursday. Citizens Financial Group has a one year low of $30.48 and a one year high of $49.25. The company has a market capitalization of $19.65 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.08.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.45%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the topic of several analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price target on 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. Compass Point upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

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.