Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 38.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 48,418 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 29,892 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $2,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.0% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 6,330 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $262,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $292,000. Graypoint LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 8,242 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 21.0% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 13,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 2,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CFG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James reissued a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Compass Point increased their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $41.66 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $18.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.06 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.24.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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 dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.45%.

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.