Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald

Key Points

• Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald have initiated coverage on Citizens Financial Group, setting an "overweight" rating with a price target of $61.00, indicating a potential upside of 17.15% from the current stock price.
• The bank reported $0.92 EPS for its last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates, and has seen a year-over-year revenue increase of 3.8%.
• A stock buyback plan was authorized, allowing Citizens Financial Group to repurchase up to $1.50 billion in shares, which reflects management's confidence in the value of their stock.

Analysts at Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage set an "overweight" rating and a $61.00 price target on the bank's stock. Cantor Fitzgerald's price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.15% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $48.50 to $52.00 in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $52.00.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $52.07 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.46 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Citizens Financial Group has a 1-year low of $32.60 and a 1-year high of $52.85. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $49.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.20.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. StoneX Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.4% during the second quarter. StoneX Group Inc. now owns 60,307 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,699,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,497 shares of the bank's stock valued at $336,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 39,766 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. Lynx Investment Advisory lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.8% during the second quarter. Lynx Investment Advisory now owns 8,961 shares of the bank's stock worth $401,000 after purchasing an additional 243 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.3% during the second quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 11,570 shares of the bank's stock worth $518,000 after purchasing an additional 257 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

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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