Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Sells 1,434 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 8.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,341 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,434 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 1,682,886 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3,234.6% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,100,988 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $39,669,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,971 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 680.1% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 803,919 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $28,804,000 after acquiring an additional 700,860 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after acquiring an additional 587,115 shares during the period. Finally, Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 2,109.3% in the second quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 386,634 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,930,000 after purchasing an additional 369,134 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CFG shares. Citigroup raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.80.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $47.65 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $42.83 and a 200 day moving average of $39.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market cap of $21.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.13 and a 12 month high of $48.35.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.53%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 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.