Norges Bank Invests $253.42 Million in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Norges Bank bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,663,092 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $253,423,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Investors Research Corp lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 344.8% in the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 645 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 177.5% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 641 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 16,900.0% during the second quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 680 shares of the bank’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 72.4% in the second quarter. REAP Financial Group LLC now owns 736 shares of the bank’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 143.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of CFG stock opened at $54.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.90 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.28, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.73. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.03 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 14.17% and a return on equity of 7.48%. The company had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 29th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 29th. This is a positive change from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 51.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $61.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $53.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $56.57.

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.