Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Stock Price Target Cut by Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered Citizens Financial Group’s price target from $90 to $89 while maintaining an “overweight” rating, implying 35.84% potential upside from the prior close.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall: 16 analysts rate the stock a Buy and four rate it a Hold, resulting in a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average target price of $79.60.
• Citizens Financial Group exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $1.30 EPS and $2.28 billion in revenue, with revenue up 12.1% year over year; institutional investors own 94.9% of the stock.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $89.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "overweight" rating on the bank's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price points to a potential upside of 35.84% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. DA Davidson reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $76.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Sixteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $79.60.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG opened at $65.52 on Monday. Citizens Financial Group has a 52-week low of $47.96 and a 52-week high of $75.33. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $70.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.60 and a beta of 0.66.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.92 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citizens Financial Group news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares in the company, valued at $82,214,789.41. This trade represents a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $95,642,000. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $223,386,000. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $3,600,000. Andra AP fonden boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 94.7% during the second quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 269,900 shares of the bank's stock valued at $18,912,000 after purchasing an additional 131,300 shares during the period. Finally, Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter worth approximately $2,358,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Bank, the company provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, credit cards, business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, investment banking, capital markets services and wealth management.

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