Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Citizens Financial Group received a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating from 20 analysts, with 19 buy ratings and one hold. The average 12-month price target is about $70.88.
• The company recently beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting EPS of $1.13 versus $1.10 expected, while revenue of $2.17 billion also slightly topped forecasts. Revenue rose 12% year over year.
• CFG declared a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, equal to an annualized yield of 2.9%. The dividend will be paid on May 14 to shareholders of record as of April 30.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) has received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twenty research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nineteen have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $70.8810.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CFG shares. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $73.00 to $74.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $75.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, March 3rd. TD Cowen boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Argus boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG opened at $63.70 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $26.94 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $38.80 and a 1 year high of $68.79. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $61.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $2.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 16.21%.Citizens Financial Group's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 5.19 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 43.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Susan Lamonica sold 13,258 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total value of $769,494.32. Following the sale, the insider owned 165,971 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,632,956.84. The trade was a 7.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 5,600.0% in the fourth quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 513 shares of the bank's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DV Equities LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc NYSE: CFG is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.

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