Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors purchased 7,343 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 222% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,278 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CFG. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Stephens restated an "overweight" rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Compass Point boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $49.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE CFG traded up $0.58 during trading on Friday, reaching $45.75. 3,821,752 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,716,601. Citizens Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $30.54 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.10, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $45.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $44.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 55.45%.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CFG. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 16.3% during the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 7,530 shares of the bank's stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 1,057 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 39.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,279 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 8,579 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 16.6% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 118,300 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,859,000 after purchasing an additional 16,800 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 104,219 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,280,000 after buying an additional 27,152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 275,006 shares of the bank's stock worth $11,171,000 after buying an additional 2,306 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.