Citigroup Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Stock

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) had its price target raised by Citigroup from $50.00 to $58.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the bank’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the company. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $44.80.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $46.78. 118,358 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,252,658. The company has a market capitalization of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.45, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $26.13 and a 52-week high of $48.35.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,060,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,144 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake 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 valued at $339,733,000 after purchasing an additional 5,579,313 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $237,106,000 after purchasing an additional 113,300 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after buying an additional 587,115 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,909,000 after buying an additional 1,682,886 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.