Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the seventeen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.41.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CFG shares. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Raymond James raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in 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 worth $339,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579,313 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,106,000 after acquiring an additional 113,300 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $159,550,000 after purchasing an additional 587,115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 valued at $155,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,886 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $44.00 on Wednesday. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $30.24 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.14%.

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.