128,649 Shares in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Purchased by Lbp Am Sa

Key Points

• Lbp Am Sa purchased 128,649 shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. for approximately $5.76 million during the 2nd quarter, highlighting increased institutional interest in the bank's stock.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for Citizens Financial Group, with Citigroup increasing the target from $60 to $65, indicating increased optimism about the company's performance.
• Citizens Financial Group recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share and has initiated a share buyback program totaling $1.50 billion, suggesting confidence in the company's valuation.

Lbp Am Sa bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 128,649 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $5,757,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 97.1% during the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 678 shares of the bank's stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 344.8% during the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 645 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 143.4% during the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the bank's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the first quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the first quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CFG shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, September 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 target price on Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $61.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Citizens Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their target price for the company from $53.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $53.95.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $52.76 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.79. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.60 and a 1 year high of $54.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $50.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.28.

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

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

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

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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