Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Stock Acquired by First Financial Corp IN

First Financial Corp IN grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 561.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,910 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,110 shares during the quarter. First Financial Corp IN’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $759,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lincoln Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 258.7% in the third quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 18,853 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 13,597 shares in the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $5,635,000. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 2,189.8% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 302,323 shares of the bank’s stock worth $19,276,000 after purchasing an additional 289,120 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 883 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 9,245 shares of the bank’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $78.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, October 1st. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $79.38.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CFG traded down $0.54 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $63.36. 3,757,344 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,596,787. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.96 and a 1 year high of $75.33.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.91%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. This trade represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Its principal subsidiary, Citizens Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through branches, digital channels and other delivery platforms.

The company’s consumer banking activities include checking and savings accounts, residential mortgages, home equity lending, credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. Through its commercial banking operations, Citizens provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, capital markets services and other solutions for companies and institutional clients.