Virtu Financial LLC Acquires 2,730 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Virtu Financial LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 24.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,768 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,730 shares during the quarter. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $602,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CFG. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $339,733,000 after buying an additional 5,579,313 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,060,689,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615,144 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $56,483,000. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 51.1% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,644,542 shares of the bank’s stock worth $107,897,000 after purchasing an additional 894,322 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 31.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,543,207 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,051,000 after purchasing an additional 839,041 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CFG opened at $42.24 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.94, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06. 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 one year low of $32.06 and a one year high of $49.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.14.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.98%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.45%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CFG shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $58.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Compass Point lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $48.67.

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.