Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by AlphaQuest LLC

Key Points

• AlphaQuest LLC reduced its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. by 26.7% during the first quarter, now owning 35,479 shares valued at approximately $1.45 million.
• Citizens Financial Group recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.92, exceeding analysts' expectations of $0.88, along with a revenue of $2.04 billion.
• The bank's Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program allowing for the buyback of up to $1.50 billion in shares, indicating confidence in the stock's value.

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 26.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 35,479 shares of the bank's stock after selling 12,939 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC's holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 7.2% during the 1st quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,380,605 shares of the bank's stock worth $425,293,000 after purchasing an additional 697,494 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,247,238 shares of the bank's stock worth $273,378,000 after purchasing an additional 374,850 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,186,364 shares of the bank's stock valued at $270,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,536 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,730,786 shares of the bank's stock worth $193,782,000 after purchasing an additional 41,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,703,836 shares of the bank's stock worth $192,716,000 after buying an additional 86,237 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on CFG. Barclays increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $50.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen raised Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $48.50 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $51.53.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE CFG traded up $0.65 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $51.96. 2,929,833 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,769,896. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.60 and a 1 year high of $52.03. The stock has a market cap of $22.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 0.78. 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 50 day moving average price of $47.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.82.

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

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits 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.

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.