Lee Financial Co Purchases New Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• Lee Financial Co has acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group, purchasing 24,811 shares valued at approximately $1,017,000 during the first quarter.
• The bank's latest earnings report showed $0.92 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' expectations and marking a 3.8% revenue increase year-over-year.
• Citizens Financial Group announced a $1.50 billion share repurchase plan, indicating management's belief that the stock is undervalued, along with a quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Lee Financial Co 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 Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 24,811 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,017,000.

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

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 1.8%

CFG stock opened at $48.31 on Monday. The business's 50 day moving average is $46.09 and its 200-day moving average is $42.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $20.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 0.78. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $32.60 and a 1-year 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 for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.26% and a return on equity of 6.94%. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.82 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on CFG. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Argus set a $45.00 price target on Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $48.50 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.53.

About Citizens Financial Group

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.