Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by Klingman & Associates LLC

Key Points

• Klingman & Associates trimmed its stake in Citizens Financial by 4.5%, selling 20,120 shares and now holds 427,017 shares (about $24.94M); institutional investors collectively own 94.9% of the stock.
• Analysts are broadly positive with 19 Buy ratings and 1 Hold, giving CFG a consensus price target of about $70.86 ("Moderate Buy").
• Citizens recently reported an EPS beat ($1.13 vs. $1.10 est.) and revenue of $2.17B (up 12% YoY), and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 (annualized yield ~2.9%).

Klingman & Associates LLC reduced its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 427,017 shares of the bank's stock after selling 20,120 shares during the quarter. Citizens Financial Group comprises 1.2% of Klingman & Associates LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Klingman & Associates LLC owned 0.10% of Citizens Financial Group worth $24,942,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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 stake in shares of 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $65.00 price objective for the company in a report on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Nineteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Susan Lamonica sold 13,258 shares of the business'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 value of $769,494.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 165,971 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,632,956.84. The trade was a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG opened at $63.85 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $27.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.09, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a 50-day moving average of $61.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.46. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.90 and a 12-month high of $68.79.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.10 by $0.03. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 8.31% and a net margin of 16.21%.The company had revenue of $2.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.77 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a $0.46 dividend. 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 payout ratio is currently 43.50%.

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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