Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by Engineers Gate Manager LP

Key Points

• Engineers Gate Manager LP cut its Citizens Financial Group stake by 56% in the second quarter, selling 482,885 shares and retaining 379,213 shares worth approximately $26.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own 94.9% of CFG.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with 16 Buy ratings and four Holds; the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average price target of $79.80.
• Citizens Financial Group exceeded quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $1.30 in EPS versus $1.25 expected and revenue of $2.28 billion. The bank also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, representing a 2.7% annualized yield.

Engineers Gate Manager LP trimmed its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 56.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 379,213 shares of the bank's stock after selling 482,885 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP owned about 0.09% of Citizens Financial Group worth $26,571,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,361,142 shares of the bank's stock valued at $661,052,000 after acquiring an additional 32,264 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 45.9% during the fourth quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 270,484 shares of the bank's stock worth $15,799,000 after purchasing an additional 85,052 shares in the last quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Todd Asset Management LLC now owns 991,510 shares of the bank's stock valued at $57,914,000 after purchasing an additional 94,774 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 51.8% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 58,648 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,426,000 after purchasing an additional 20,008 shares during the period. Finally, Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at $95,642,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $72.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target 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. Sixteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $79.80.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other 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 transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,140,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $82,214,789.41. The trade was a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.67% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $69.43 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $29.24 billion, a PE ratio of 15.06, a P/E/G ratio of 0.63 and a beta of 0.66. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $47.96 and a fifty-two week high of $75.33. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $71.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The bank reported $1.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.25 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 17.18%.The business's revenue was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.92 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.3 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 30th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 30th. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 39.91%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Bank, the company provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses, institutions and government entities.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, consumer and residential lending, credit cards, business loans, commercial real estate financing, treasury management, investment banking, capital markets services and wealth management.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.