Citizens Financial Group Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock investors purchased 9,343 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 196% compared to the average volume of 3,154 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total value of $213,219.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 37,558 shares in the company, valued at $1,265,704.60. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CFG. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 96.3% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,472,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $81,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,212,642 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,959,000. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 2,992 shares during the period. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,296,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,970,000 after buying an additional 431,624 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CFG. Argus raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $35.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $37.67.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:CFG opened at $36.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $16.55 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.10. Citizens Financial Group has a 12 month low of $22.77 and a 12 month high of $37.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.82.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.62%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 60.87%.

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.