Ieq Capital LLC Buys 56,032 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 19.6% in Q1, owning 341,686 shares valued at approximately $14 million.
• Analysts have generally upgraded Citizens Financial Group's stock ratings, with a current consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $51.53.
• The bank declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, yielding 3.2%, and announced a stock repurchase program authorizing buybacks of up to $1.50 billion.

Ieq Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 19.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 341,686 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 56,032 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC owned 0.08% of Citizens Financial Group worth $13,999,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 97.1% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 678 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 673.0% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 889 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 143.4% in the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the bank's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth $45,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $50.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $57.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.53.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.3%

Citizens Financial Group stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $52.30. The stock had a trading volume of 2,616,557 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,712,555. The stock has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a PE ratio of 15.90, a PEG ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.60 and a 52 week high of $52.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $47.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.90.

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

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid 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 dividend yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the bank to reacquire up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company's management believes its stock is 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.