Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Stock: Csenge Advisory Group Grows Stake

Csenge Advisory Group lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 1,210.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 162,382 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 149,986 shares during the quarter. Csenge Advisory Group’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $10,353,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. New York Life Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,253.0% in the third quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 855,803 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $54,566,000 after buying an additional 792,550 shares in the last quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 457.3% during the third quarter. Gen Wealth Partners Inc now owns 7,629 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 6,260 shares during the last quarter. 71 West Capital Partners grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 237.8% during the third quarter. 71 West Capital Partners now owns 20,913 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,333,000 after buying an additional 14,722 shares during the last quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 9,937.5% during the third quarter. Nemes Rush Group LLC now owns 12,045 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $768,000 after buying an additional 11,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 9.5% during the third quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,353,041 shares of the bank’s stock worth $78,842,000 after acquiring an additional 117,183 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Bank of America dropped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $82.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $84.00 to $78.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.79.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE CFG opened at $64.91 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $65.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.65. The firm has a market cap of $27.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $49.00 and a 1 year high of $75.33.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 9.52%. The company had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.30 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 41.85%.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through Citizens Bank and related businesses, it provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, personal and business loans, credit cards, wealth management, and commercial lending and cash-management services. The company also provides capital markets and other financial services to corporate clients.