Dark Forest Capital Management LP Purchases Shares of 18,371 Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 18,371 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $662,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,886 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,332,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,333 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3,234.6% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,100,988 shares of the bank’s stock worth $39,669,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,971 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 163.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,352,602 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $44,825,000 after purchasing an additional 840,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 680.1% in the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 803,919 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,804,000 after purchasing an additional 700,860 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.20.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total transaction of $170,357.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 33,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,454,401.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $40.51 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.28. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $43.96. The company has a market cap of $18.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.01). Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 10.74%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given 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 4.15%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.