Ethic Inc. Cuts Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• Ethic Inc. reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 13.9% during Q2, leaving them with 47,156 shares valued at approximately $2.1 million.
• Citizens Financial Group recently reported an EPS of $1.05 for the quarter, surpassing estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend increase from $0.42 to $0.46.
• Analysts have mixed reviews, with target prices ranging from $56 to $65, and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".

Ethic Inc. cut its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 13.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,156 shares of the bank's stock after selling 7,639 shares during the quarter. Ethic Inc.'s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $2,095,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CFG. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at $108,864,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11,167.0% in the 1st quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,347,537 shares of the bank's stock valued at $55,209,000 after acquiring an additional 1,335,577 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 19.1% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 7,366,754 shares of the bank's stock worth $294,007,000 after buying an additional 1,180,390 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 20.7% during the 2nd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 6,399,905 shares of the bank's stock worth $287,932,000 after buying an additional 1,098,684 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB grew its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 291.5% during the 2nd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 1,352,458 shares of the bank's stock worth $60,522,000 after buying an additional 1,006,999 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $55.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $56.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Raymond James Financial set a $62.00 target price on Citizens Financial Group and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. DA Davidson restated a "buy" rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, September 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $56.57.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 2.5%

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $52.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $51.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.64. The company has a market cap of $22.52 billion, a PE ratio of 14.63, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 0.79. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $55.24.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The bank reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.03 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.10 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.48% and a net margin of 14.17%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 12th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 29th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This is a boost from Citizens Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 29th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 51.54%.

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.

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