Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund cut its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 20.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 347,281 shares of the bank's stock after selling 88,986 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.08% of Citizens Financial Group worth $14,263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 12.7% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,344 shares of the bank's stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 8,046 shares of the bank's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 88,829 shares of the bank's stock worth $3,648,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,250 shares of the bank's stock worth $117,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tealwood Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tealwood Asset Management Inc. now owns 43,059 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,768,000 after acquiring an additional 360 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 14.4 %

Shares of CFG traded up $6.09 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $48.31. The company had a trading volume of 10,940,691 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,344,652. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $24.61 and a one year high of $48.35. The company's fifty day moving average price is $41.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.86. The company has a market capitalization of $21.50 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CFG. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. DA Davidson increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Raymond James assumed coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They set a "market perform" rating for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an "in-line" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $43.80.

Citizens Financial Group 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.