Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) saw a significant drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,410,000 shares, a drop of 21.8% from the October 15th total of 18,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,890,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CFG shares. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Stephens raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.80.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CFG. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter worth $25,000. Costello Asset Management INC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $27,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 262.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 936 shares of the bank’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $46.58 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $26.13 and a 52-week high of $48.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $41.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 66.14%.

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.