Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Receives Equal Weight Rating from Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reissued their equal weight rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) in a report released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has a $38.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on CFG. Argus lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Citizens Financial Group from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Sunday, May 5th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an in-line rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $37.67.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 1.2 %

CFG opened at $34.07 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $37.30. The firm has a market cap of $15.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.10.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 60.87%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total transaction of $213,219.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 37,558 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,265,704.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 21,379 shares of the bank’s stock worth $776,000 after acquiring an additional 3,434 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 396.5% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 128,852 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,676,000 after buying an additional 102,899 shares in the last quarter. Invst LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth $1,637,000. PGGM Investments bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth $1,331,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 37,702 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,368,000 after buying an additional 6,681 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

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.