Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Stock Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,123,814 shares of the bank's stock after selling 11,338 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky owned about 0.26% of Citizens Financial Group worth $49,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $8,134,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.8% in the fourth quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,999 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 7,119 shares during the period. Patton Fund Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $6,694,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 46.8% during the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,152,151 shares of the bank's stock worth $50,430,000 after purchasing an additional 367,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,974,434 shares of the bank's stock valued at $217,781,000 after buying an additional 805,758 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on CFG shares. DA Davidson reduced their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $49.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Argus set a $45.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The firm moved its midcap bank industry view from Attractive to In-line, saying “higher and faster than expected” tariffs raise recession risks, will weigh on loan growth and in-turn, forward earnings and multiples. The group is “cheap,” but weaker for longer loan growth and inverted yield curve limit upside catalysts. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $46.18.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CFG traded up $0.94 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $37.43. 4,389,022 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,791,341. The stock has a market cap of $16.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.35, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.81. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $49.25. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $40.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $43.49. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is 53.33%.

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.