Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the eighteen research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.22.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CFG. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Raymond James reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $58.00 price target (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE CFG traded down $0.79 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $39.68. The company had a trading volume of 5,315,265 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,152,654. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.20. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $32.06 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.10, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85.

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Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. Citizens Financial Group's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.45%.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank's stock valued at $339,733,000 after buying an additional 5,579,313 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $243,431,000. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,683,111 shares of the bank's stock valued at $423,733,000 after acquiring an additional 1,672,204 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,186,364 shares of the bank's stock worth $270,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,536 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

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.