Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Shares Sold by SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC

Key Points

• SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC has reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 33.2%, selling 9,600 shares during the second quarter, bringing its total holdings to 19,315 shares valued at $864,000.
• Citizens Financial Group reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.92, exceeding expectations, and has initiated a share repurchase plan to buy back $1.50 billion in outstanding shares.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share, reflecting an annual yield of 3.1%, with a payout ratio of 51.06%.

SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 33.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,315 shares of the bank's stock after selling 9,600 shares during the quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $864,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CFG. Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Investors Research Corp raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 344.8% in the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 645 shares of the bank's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 143.4% during the 1st quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,076 shares of the bank's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NBT Bank N A NY bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the first quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. DA Davidson upped their target price 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the company from $48.50 to $52.00 in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $61.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.35.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG stock traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $53.56. The stock had a trading volume of 9,097,700 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,983,736. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market cap of $23.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.80. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $49.76 and its 200-day simple moving average is $43.63. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $32.60 and a fifty-two week high of $53.78.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.92 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 3.8% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Citizens Financial Group 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.