Traders Purchase Large Volume of Citizens Financial Group Call Options (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 7,407 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 198% compared to the average volume of 2,482 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. My Legacy Advisors LLC grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 22,810 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 7,304 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 28,726 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,257,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 7,777 shares of the bank’s stock worth $340,000 after acquiring an additional 247 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 13,177 shares of the bank’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG stock opened at $46.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $30.24 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The firm has a market cap of $20.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.10. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.51.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 10.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CFG shares. Compass Point increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. DA Davidson increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Raymond James upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “market perform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $55.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.78.

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.