Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by Comerica Bank

Key Points

• Comerica Bank cut its position in Citizens Financial by 40.0% in Q4, selling 47,104 shares and leaving 70,566 shares worth about $4.12 million.
• Citizens beat quarterly expectations with EPS of $1.13 vs. $1.10 and revenue up 12% to $2.17 billion, and analysts maintain a "Moderate Buy" consensus with a $70.88 average target.
• The bank announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 (annualized $1.84, ~2.9% yield; ex-dividend April 30) and institutional investors own about 94.9% of the stock.

Comerica Bank lowered its position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 40.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 70,566 shares of the bank's stock after selling 47,104 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $4,122,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 37,289,711 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,982,532,000 after purchasing an additional 614,181 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 24,064,513 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,279,270,000 after purchasing an additional 393,158 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,220,986 shares of the bank's stock valued at $423,222,000 after purchasing an additional 505,614 shares during the period. Ninety One UK Ltd lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 6,574,714 shares of the bank's stock valued at $384,029,000 after purchasing an additional 763,098 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 2.3% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,047,378 shares of the bank's stock valued at $321,534,000 after purchasing an additional 138,688 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG stock opened at $64.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.26 and a 200-day moving average of $58.89. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $37.88 and a 12-month high of $68.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. The company has a market cap of $27.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a PEG ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.70.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.03. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 16.21% and a return on equity of 8.31%. The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.77 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Susan Lamonica sold 13,258 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $769,494.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 165,971 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,632,956.84. This trade represents a 7.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Robert W. Baird upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $63.00 to $69.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Barclays set a $77.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Nineteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $70.88.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc NYSE: CFG is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.

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