Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Acquired by State of Alaska Department of Revenue

Key Points

• State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its Citizens Financial Group stake by 1,585.2% in the third quarter, acquiring 656,833 additional shares for a total of 698,268 shares valued at approximately $44.5 million.
• Citizens Financial Group reported quarterly EPS of $1.30, exceeding estimates of $1.25, while revenue rose 12.1% year over year to $2.28 billion. Institutional investors own 94.9% of the company’s shares.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with the stock holding a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $79.08; CFG recently traded at $63.78.

State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 1,585.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 698,268 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 656,833 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue owned 0.17% of Citizens Financial Group worth $44,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 319.8% during the 2nd quarter. Elevation Wealth Partners LLC now owns 424 shares of the bank's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Keating Financial Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Gunpowder Capital Management LLC dba Oliver Wealth Management purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter valued at about $35,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 1.9%

NYSE CFG traded up $1.21 during trading on Thursday, hitting $63.78. 1,390,491 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,579,596. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.03. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $47.96 and a 12-month high of $75.33. The firm has a market cap of $26.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.83, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%. The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citizens Financial Group news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total value of $9,323,623.83. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,214,789.41. The trade was a 10.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.67% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. UBS Group dropped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, October 6th. They issued a "strong-buy" rating and a $77.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.08.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Its principal subsidiary, Citizens Bank, provides banking and financial services to individuals, families, businesses and institutions through branches, digital channels and other delivery platforms.

The company's consumer banking activities include checking and savings accounts, residential mortgages, home equity lending, credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. Through its commercial banking operations, Citizens provides business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, capital markets services and other solutions for companies and institutional clients.

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