Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by Contravisory Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Contravisory Investment Management Inc. dramatically reduced its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 96.1%, owning only 772 shares after selling 18,984 during Q2.
• The company announced a $1.50 billion share repurchase program, allowing it to reacquire up to 8.5% of its stock, indicating confidence in its valuation.
• Citizens Financial reported earnings of $0.92 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, with a year-over-year revenue increase of 3.8% to $2.04 billion.

Contravisory Investment Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 96.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 772 shares of the bank's stock after selling 18,984 shares during the period. Contravisory Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $35,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 39,766 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,740,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.4% in the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,531 shares of the bank's stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares during the period. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 53,879 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,207,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 32,767 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 296 shares during the period. Finally, Grove Bank & Trust boosted 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 valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on CFG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $48.50 to $52.00 in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial raised their price objective on shares of 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $61.00 price target for the company. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $52.35.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 0.1%

CFG stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $53.56. 9,097,700 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,795,203. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.60 and a 1-year high of $53.78. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $49.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.62. The company has a market cap of $23.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.80.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Company 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.