UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Has $146.80 Million Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 6.0%, bringing its ownership to approximately 3.58 million shares, valued at around $146.8 million.
• Citizens Financial Group achieved a quarterly earnings report with an earnings-per-share (EPS) of $0.92, surpassing expectations of $0.88 by $0.04.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, resulting in a 3.2% yield and announced a stock buyback program of up to $1.5 billion.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 6.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,583,034 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 204,402 shares during the period. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned 0.82% of Citizens Financial Group worth $146,797,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 8.4% in the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 9,977 shares of the bank's stock valued at $437,000 after purchasing an additional 777 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.5% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 26,025 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,139,000 after purchasing an additional 4,420 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 194.3% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 224,822 shares of the bank's stock valued at $9,838,000 after purchasing an additional 148,431 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.3% in the 4th quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 19,350 shares of the bank's stock valued at $847,000 after purchasing an additional 3,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 993,788 shares of the bank's stock valued at $43,488,000 after purchasing an additional 14,421 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CFG shares. Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Citigroup started coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 9th. They issued an "overweight" rating on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.10.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG stock traded up $1.38 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $53.65. 3,069,022 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,687,162. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.31, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.80. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.60 and a 52 week high of $53.58. 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 company has a fifty day moving average price of $49.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.49.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm 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 business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

Citizens Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock 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 repurchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company's management 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.