Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC Cuts Stock Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC decreased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,782 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 308 shares during the period. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $472,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $339,733,000 after purchasing an additional 5,579,313 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,060,689,000 after buying an additional 1,615,144 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 85.6% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,043,650 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $83,933,000 after buying an additional 942,662 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 51.1% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,644,542 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,897,000 after acquiring an additional 894,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 124.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,511,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,063,000 after acquiring an additional 838,917 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $46.43 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.72. 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, Inc. has a 12 month low of $30.30 and a 12 month high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 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 $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CFG. Compass Point lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $58.00 price target (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Nine 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

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.