ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Decreases Stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 24.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 109,710 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 35,599 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $3,636,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 57,592,192 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,749,075,000 after purchasing an additional 2,540,392 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,577,041 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,775,000 after buying an additional 241,869 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,383,000 after buying an additional 8,203,831 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 18.0% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,297,989 shares of the bank’s stock worth $720,392,000 after buying an additional 2,785,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,594,481 shares of the bank’s stock worth $310,732,000 after buying an additional 621,715 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total value of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,471,902.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 3.3 %

NYSE CFG traded up $1.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $33.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,999,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,923,239. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.88. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.77 and a 52-week high of $36.38. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 1.38.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.10). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 60.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.29.

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.