NFJ Investment Group LLC Has $8.48 Million Stock Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• NFJ Investment Group LLC has reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. by 7.1%, now holding 207,076 shares valued at approximately $8.48 million.
• The bank recently announced a $1.50 billion share repurchase plan, which allows it to buy back up to 8.5% of its stock, indicating that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.
• Citizens Financial Group's most recent earnings report exceeded expectations, with $0.92 earnings per share, higher than the consensus estimate of $0.88, and revenue increased 3.8% year-over-year.

NFJ Investment Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 7.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 207,076 shares of the bank's stock after selling 15,927 shares during the period. NFJ Investment Group LLC's holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $8,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James Financial increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $48.50 to $52.00 in a report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI upgraded Citizens Financial Group from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $51.53.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG stock traded down $0.80 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $51.71. 2,996,647 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,390,459. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.60 and a twelve month high of $52.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $43.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 0.80.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $2.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.01 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 13.26%.Citizens Financial Group's revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that authorizes the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the bank to buy up to 8.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication 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.