Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Buys 103,945 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 33.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 411,594 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 103,945 shares during the quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH owned approximately 0.10% of Citizens Financial Group worth $18,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of CFG. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,380,605 shares of the bank’s stock worth $425,293,000 after buying an additional 697,494 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank’s stock worth $294,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,390 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 554,618 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.7% in the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,399,905 shares of the bank’s stock worth $287,932,000 after acquiring an additional 1,098,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,730,786 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $193,782,000 after purchasing an additional 41,704 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Citizens Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $53.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, September 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Raymond James Financial set a $62.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $52.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.57.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of CFG opened at $50.45 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $51.75 and its 200 day moving average is $47.64. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $32.60 and a 12-month 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. The stock has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.13, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.82.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 EPS 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 business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 29th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.54%.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.