Citigroup Reaffirms "Buy" Rating for Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating reissued by equities research analysts at Citigroup in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They presently have a $57.00 price objective on the bank's stock, up from their previous price objective of $51.00. Citigroup's price target would indicate a potential upside of 19.45% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on CFG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $43.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $43.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $45.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. The firm moved its midcap bank industry view from Attractive to In-line, saying “higher and faster than expected” tariffs raise recession risks, will weigh on loan growth and in-turn, forward earnings and multiples. The group is “cheap,” but weaker for longer loan growth and inverted yield curve limit upside catalysts. Finally, Stephens lowered their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $48.68.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $47.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,302,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,833,611. The stock has a market cap of $20.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 0.78 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group has a twelve month low of $32.60 and a twelve month high of $49.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.72 and a 200-day moving average of $42.11.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.76% and a return on equity of 6.84%. Research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Friday, June 13th that permits the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the bank to reacquire up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,900,115 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,570,989,000 after buying an additional 1,131,838 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,929,591 shares of the bank's stock valued at $477,043,000 after buying an additional 124,860 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 27.8% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,570,083 shares of the bank's stock valued at $462,547,000 after acquiring an additional 2,298,040 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 7.2% during the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,380,605 shares of the bank's stock worth $425,293,000 after acquiring an additional 697,494 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank's stock valued at $294,007,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,390 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.