Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Sells 29,286 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Key Points

• Legacy Capital Group California Inc. has reduced its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 63.0%, owning 17,175 shares worth $704,000 after selling 29,286 shares in the first quarter.
• Citizens Financial Group's stock has received multiple price target increases from analysts, with Barclays raising it to $55.00, indicating a shift towards more optimistic market sentiment.
• The bank's quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $0.92 EPS, which is higher than the consensus estimate of $0.88, alongside a 3.6% dividend yield announced for shareholders.

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. lessened its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 63.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,175 shares of the bank's stock after selling 29,286 shares during the quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc.'s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $704,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 35,900,115 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,570,989,000 after buying an additional 1,131,838 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 20.9% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,683,111 shares of the bank's stock worth $423,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,672,204 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 6,247,238 shares of the bank's stock worth $273,378,000 after purchasing an additional 374,850 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.2% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,186,364 shares of the bank's stock worth $270,715,000 after purchasing an additional 1,507,536 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,689,082 shares of the bank's stock worth $205,194,000 after purchasing an additional 96,067 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CFG shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. They issued a "buy" rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $48.50 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Cowen started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $57.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.53.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG stock traded up $0.65 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $47.29. The stock had a trading volume of 3,150,619 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,305,761. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.40 billion, a PE ratio of 14.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $45.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.69. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $49.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The company 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

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

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.