Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by Arvest Investments Inc.

Arvest Investments Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 1.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,032 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 632 shares during the quarter. Arvest Investments Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,702,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 97.1% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 678 shares of the bank’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 143.4% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the bank’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $45,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $46,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CFG. Citigroup began coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday. They set an “overweight” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Raymond James Financial boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.00.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $51.82 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $49.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.35. The company has a market capitalization of $22.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.60 and a 1 year high of $52.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The business’s revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.