Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.42

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 17th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share by the bank on Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st.

Citizens Financial Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.5% per year over the last three years. Citizens Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 42.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Citizens Financial Group to earn $3.95 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 42.5%.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $43.00 on Tuesday. Citizens Financial Group has a one year low of $22.77 and a one year high of $43.96. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $36.61 and a 200-day moving average of $34.68. The company has a market capitalization of $19.57 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) 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). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total transaction of $170,357.88. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,620 shares in the company, valued at $1,454,401.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CFG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wedbush reduced their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Stephens increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, May 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.60.

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.