Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Upgraded at Raymond James

Raymond James upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) from a market perform rating to a strong-buy rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $55.00 price objective on the bank’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently commented on CFG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson upped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $46.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $43.45 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61. The firm has a market cap of $19.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $44.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.24. Citizens Financial Group has a 12-month low of $30.24 and a 12-month high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Investors of record on Wednesday, October 30th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.14%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,060,689,000 after buying an additional 1,615,144 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $339,733,000 after acquiring an additional 5,579,313 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,106,000 after acquiring an additional 113,300 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after acquiring an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,886 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

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.