KBC Group NV Decreases Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

KBC Group NV cut its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 879,499 shares of the bank's stock after selling 21,568 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.20% of Citizens Financial Group worth $36,121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,332,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,333 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank's stock valued at $237,106,000 after buying an additional 113,300 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank's stock valued at $159,550,000 after buying an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank's stock valued at $155,909,000 after buying an additional 1,682,886 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,764,090 shares of the bank's stock valued at $99,448,000 after buying an additional 45,038 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on CFG shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. StockNews.com upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $43.80.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 0.4 %

Citizens Financial Group stock traded up $0.19 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $46.77. The company had a trading volume of 3,793,945 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,305,169. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $42.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.30. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $26.13 and a 12 month high of $48.35. The company has a market capitalization of $20.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 10.37%. The company's revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is 66.14%.

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.