Boyar Asset Management Inc. Invests $231,000 in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• Boyar Asset Management Inc. recently invested approximately $231,000 in Citizens Financial Group by acquiring 5,161 shares of the bank's stock.
• Several analysts have upgraded their ratings for Citizens Financial Group, with Morgan Stanley increasing the target price from $53.00 to $71.00, indicating strong growth prospects.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, translating to an annual yield of 3.1%, and has initiated a share buyback plan allowing for the repurchase of up to 8.5% of its shares.

Boyar Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 5,161 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $231,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 97.1% in the first quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 678 shares of the bank's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 344.8% in the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 645 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 177.5% in the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 641 shares of the bank's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 410 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 143.4% in the first quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the bank's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 634 shares during the period. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter worth approximately $45,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CFG. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $53.00 to $71.00 in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $48.50 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial boosted 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 research report on Friday, July 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c+)" rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $54.70.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG opened at $53.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.37, a PEG 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 50 day simple moving average of $50.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 EPS 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 firm had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to reacquire up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group 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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