Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:MFG) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $9.90, but opened at $9.17. Mizuho Financial Group shares last traded at $9.2740, with a volume of 1,570,068 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded Mizuho Financial Group from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Mizuho Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy”.

Mizuho Financial Group Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $116.04 billion, a PE ratio of 16.38, a PEG ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.37. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $8.22 and its 200-day moving average is $7.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.97.

Mizuho Financial Group (NYSE:MFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 2nd. The bank reported $0.16 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.14 by $0.02. Mizuho Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 12.31%.The company had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Mizuho Financial Group, Inc. will post 0.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Mizuho Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Mizuho Financial Group by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 59,084,500 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $432,499,000 after buying an additional 3,166,984 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 590.7% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 16,560,891 shares of the bank’s stock worth $121,226,000 after acquiring an additional 14,163,328 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Mizuho Financial Group by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 16,266,878 shares of the bank’s stock worth $119,074,000 after purchasing an additional 1,716,932 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Mizuho Financial Group by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 12,602,417 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,436,000 after purchasing an additional 216,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Mizuho Financial Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,314,793 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $69,109,000 after purchasing an additional 167,604 shares during the period. 3.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Mizuho Financial Group

Mizuho Financial Group, Inc is a major Japanese banking and financial services holding company headquartered in Tokyo. The group operates through a network of subsidiaries that provide a full range of retail, corporate and investment banking services. Its core businesses include deposit-taking and lending, transaction banking, cash management, trade finance and treasury services for both individual and institutional clients.

Beyond traditional commercial banking, Mizuho offers securities and capital markets services, investment banking, underwriting, M&A advisory, and asset management through its securities and trust banking arms.