Brokerages Set Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Target Price at $70.88

Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) have been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.8810.

CFG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. New Street Research set a $73.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Friday, May 8th.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of CFG opened at $60.41 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $38.80 and a 52 week high of $68.79.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.16 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 16.21% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.50%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Susan Lamonica sold 13,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $769,494.32. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 165,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,632,956.84. This represents a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 37,289,711 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,982,532,000 after buying an additional 614,181 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,064,513 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,279,270,000 after buying an additional 393,158 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 worth $661,052,000 after buying an additional 32,264 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 11,217,975 shares of the bank’s stock worth $655,242,000 after buying an additional 298,779 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 8,000,750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $467,389,000 after buying an additional 1,953,372 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.