Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Holdings Increased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 4.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 655,600 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,940 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $28,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CFG. Commerce Bank lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% in the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 13,177 shares of the bank’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 12.7% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,344 shares of the bank’s stock worth $84,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.5% in the third quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 11,395 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% during the third quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 88,829 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,648,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SYM FINANCIAL Corp grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 4.8% during the third quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 6,976 shares of the bank’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 4.6 %

NYSE:CFG opened at $42.66 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $44.89 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $18.80 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.08. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.24 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share 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 net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The company’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 business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.94%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 66.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CFG. Raymond James raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $55.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Citigroup upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $47.41.

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.