Junto Capital Management LP Boosts Stock Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Junto Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 3.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,307,340 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 42,248 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group makes up approximately 1.6% of Junto Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position. Junto Capital Management LP owned about 0.31% of Citizens Financial Group worth $91,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 6,078 shares of the bank’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares during the period. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% in the second quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 56,309 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,946,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 19,694 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 5,270 shares of the bank’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 7,719 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $9,323,623.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. The trade was a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on CFG shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $79.80.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $69.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $71.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.92. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $47.96 and a fifty-two week high of $75.33. The firm has a market cap of $29.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.66.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 8.85%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 2.7%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.91%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Bank, the company provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, credit cards, business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, investment banking, capital markets services and wealth management.