Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Invests $27,000 in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 669 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $27,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CFG. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,332,185,000 after buying an additional 1,552,333 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,106,000 after purchasing an additional 113,300 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after purchasing an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,886 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,764,090 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,448,000 after purchasing an additional 45,038 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of CFG opened at $46.58 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.13 and a 1 year 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 50 day simple moving average of $41.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.25. The firm has a market cap of $20.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CFG. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.80.

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.