25,448 Shares in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Acquired by Covenant Asset Management LLC

Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 25,448 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,043,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter worth $108,864,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter worth $491,000. Csenge Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.0% in the first quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 19,358 shares of the bank's stock worth $793,000 after acquiring an additional 922 shares during the period. Mystic Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.5% in the first quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,646 shares of the bank's stock worth $313,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246 shares during the period. Finally, Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 25.0% in the first quarter. Hussman Strategic Advisors Inc. now owns 52,500 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,151,000 after acquiring an additional 10,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CFG shares. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. Argus set a $45.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Stephens lowered their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $48.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 7th. The firm moved its midcap bank industry view from Attractive to In-line, saying “higher and faster than expected” tariffs raise recession risks, will weigh on loan growth and in-turn, forward earnings and multiples. The group is “cheap,” but weaker for longer loan growth and inverted yield curve limit upside catalysts. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $50.89.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG stock traded down $0.21 on Friday, hitting $48.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,470,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,842,718. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $43.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.42. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $32.60 and a 1 year high of $49.68. The stock has a market cap of $21.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. Citizens Financial Group's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often 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.