Danske Bank A S Buys Shares of 309,483 Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Danske Bank A S bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 309,483 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $21,685,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter worth $27,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Activest Wealth Management lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 5,600.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 513 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elevation Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 319.8% during the second quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 424 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 323 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Friday, August 14th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Saun Bruce Van sold 129,369 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. This trade represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $69.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $29.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $47.96 and a 12 month high of $75.33. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.53.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.92 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.91%.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.