Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Acquires 21,078 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• Pinnacle Bancorp acquired 21,078 shares of Citizens Financial Group worth approximately $1.34 million during the third quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of CFG, with several large firms significantly increasing their positions.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with CFG receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating and an average price target of $77.47, despite several recent target-price cuts.
• Citizens Financial Group reported quarterly EPS of $1.41, narrowly beating estimates, and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.52 per share, representing a 3.2% annualized yield.

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 21,078 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $1,344,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter worth $3,415,046,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 7,979.7% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,165,352 shares of the bank's stock valued at $775,663,000 after purchasing an additional 12,014,785 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1,252.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,204,563 shares of the bank's stock valued at $586,883,000 after purchasing an additional 8,523,938 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,719,160 shares of the bank's stock valued at $282,927,000 after purchasing an additional 28,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 31.2% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 3,685,819 shares of the bank's stock valued at $258,265,000 after purchasing an additional 875,666 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, CEO Bruce Van Saun sold 129,369 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.07, for a total transaction of $9,323,623.83. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,140,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at $82,214,789.41. The trade was a 10.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CFG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $78.00 to $72.50 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $89.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Stephens decreased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $77.47.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE CFG opened at $64.90 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.19. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $49.00 and a 12-month high of $75.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74. The company has a market cap of $27.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.06, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.72.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 18.07% and a return on equity of 9.52%. The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.30 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 37.02%.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Its principal subsidiary, Citizens Bank, provides banking and financial services to consumers, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutional clients.

The company offers consumer deposit accounts, residential mortgages, home equity financing, credit cards, personal loans and other lending products. Its commercial banking activities include business loans, equipment financing, treasury management, capital markets services and investment banking.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.