Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) to Issue $0.42 Quarterly Dividend

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, October 16th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a dividend of 0.42 per share by the bank on Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th.

Citizens Financial Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.5% per year over the last three years. Citizens Financial Group has a payout ratio of 42.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Citizens Financial Group to earn $3.98 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 42.2%.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 2.4 %

CFG stock traded down $1.06 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $42.42. The company had a trading volume of 10,866,259 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,377,349. Citizens Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $22.77 and a fifty-two week high of $44.39. The company has a market capitalization of $19.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.94.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.95 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total value of $170,357.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,620 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,454,401.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on CFG shares. 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 report on Thursday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $43.07.

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.