Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Holdings Boosted by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 87.7% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 29,750 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 13,897 shares during the period. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $2,085,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $661,052,000 after purchasing an additional 32,264 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 45.9% during the 4th quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 270,484 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $15,799,000 after buying an additional 85,052 shares during the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 991,510 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $57,914,000 after buying an additional 94,774 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 51.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 58,648 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,426,000 after buying an additional 20,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $95,642,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. This represents a 10.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG opened at $70.81 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.82 billion, a PE ratio of 15.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.64 and a beta of 0.66. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $47.96 and a one year high of $75.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $71.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released 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. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 17.18% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 30th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 39.91%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Truist Financial boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Sixteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $79.25.

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.