Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Investors bought 7,343 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 222% compared to the average volume of 2,278 call options.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.30. The stock had a trading volume of 903,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,654,259. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.04. The firm has a market cap of $19.36 billion, a PE ratio of 14.66, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.10. Citizens Financial Group has a one year low of $30.30 and a one year high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.45%.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 16.3% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 7,530 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 1,057 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 39.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 30,279 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after purchasing an additional 8,579 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 16.6% in the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 118,300 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $4,859,000 after buying an additional 16,800 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 35.2% during the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 104,219 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,280,000 after buying an additional 27,152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 275,006 shares of the bank’s stock worth $11,171,000 after acquiring an additional 2,306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on CFG shares. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Compass Point boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

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.