Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Has $826,000 Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 35.9% by selling 11,318 shares, leaving it with 20,172 shares valued at approximately $826,000.
• Citizens Financial Group has announced a stock repurchase plan to buy back up to $1.50 billion in shares, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued.
• The bank recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, translating to an annualized dividend of $1.68 and a dividend yield of 3.6%.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. cut its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 35.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,172 shares of the bank's stock after selling 11,318 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $826,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Salzhauer Michael raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,034.7% during the fourth quarter. Salzhauer Michael now owns 179,301 shares of the bank's stock valued at $7,846,000 after acquiring an additional 163,500 shares in the last quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $398,000. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $6,043,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 594,583 shares of the bank's stock valued at $26,019,000 after buying an additional 8,942 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 6,698 shares of the bank's stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 694 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock traded down $0.28 during trading on Thursday, hitting $46.65. 3,708,536 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,390,433. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.85. The stock's fifty day moving average is $45.05 and its 200 day moving average is $42.74. The stock has a market cap of $20.12 billion, a PE ratio of 14.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.51 and a beta of 0.78. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $32.60 and a 12 month high of $49.98.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The business's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its board has approved a stock 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 purchase up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. Barclays raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $51.53.

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.