Citizens Financial Group Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders acquired 7,407 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 198% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,482 call options.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 2.8 %

Shares of CFG stock traded up $1.30 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $47.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 685,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,146,364. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $30.24 and a 52-week high of $49.25. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $45.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 10.37%. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Compass Point raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. StockNews.com upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.78.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,060,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,144 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $339,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579,313 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,974,434 shares of the bank’s stock worth $217,781,000 after acquiring an additional 805,758 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in 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, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,886 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.