DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Sells 18,025 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 6.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 274,525 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 18,025 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale owned approximately 0.06% of Citizens Financial Group worth $9,789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $117,372,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,332,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,333 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 96.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 130.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,955,230 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,796,000 after buying an additional 1,105,011 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 163.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,352,602 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,825,000 after buying an additional 840,103 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,454,401.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Argus boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $36.50 to $36.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 1st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.60.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 3.7 %

CFG stock traded down $1.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $39.20. 7,856,190 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,865,932. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.20, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.10. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.77 and a 1 year high of $43.96.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.95 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 60.87%.

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.