Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Upgraded by Cantor Fitzgerald to Strong-Buy Rating

Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) to a strong-buy rating in a research report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CFG. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Friday, July 18th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped 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 research note on Friday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG stock opened at $51.88 on Tuesday. Citizens Financial Group has a 12 month low of $32.60 and a 12 month high of $52.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $49.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $43.26.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its 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 analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 51.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CFG. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 51,548,977 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,306,817,000 after purchasing an additional 209,467 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 23,671,355 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,059,293,000 after purchasing an additional 283,321 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,380,605 shares of the bank’s stock worth $425,293,000 after purchasing an additional 697,494 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank’s stock worth $294,007,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,390 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,801,856 shares of the bank’s stock worth $278,672,000 after purchasing an additional 554,618 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company 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.