Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Short Interest Update

Key Points

• Citizens Financial Group experienced a significant decline in short interest, dropping by 29.5% from July to August, with current short interest at 8,310,000 shares.
• Analysts have given Citizens Financial Group a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy", with target price adjustments ranging from $51 to $60 from various financial institutions.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, resulting in a 3.2% dividend yield, and reported revenue of $2.04 billion for the last quarter, exceeding estimates.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totaling 8,310,000 shares, adeclineof29.5% from the July 31st total of 11,780,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,990,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 price objective on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.53.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $253,423,000. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $108,864,000. HoldCo Asset Management LP bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $93,361,000. Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $67,492,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11,167.0% during the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,347,537 shares of the bank's stock valued at $55,209,000 after purchasing an additional 1,335,577 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $51.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.76 and a 200 day moving average of $43.11. Citizens Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $52.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. Citizens Financial Group's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 51.06%.

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.

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