StoneX Group Inc. Purchases 38,583 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• StoneX Group increased its Citizens Financial Group stake by 96.3% in the third quarter, buying 38,583 shares to hold 78,640 shares valued at about $5 million.
• Citizens beat quarterly EPS estimates with $1.41 per share, though revenue fell short of expectations. The bank also raised its quarterly dividend from $0.46 to $0.52 per share, a 3.3% indicated yield.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive: 17 analysts rate CFG a Buy and four a Hold, with a consensus price target of $76.79.

StoneX Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 96.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,640 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 38,583 shares during the period. StoneX Group Inc.'s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $5,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,415,046,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 7,979.7% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,165,352 shares of the bank's stock worth $775,663,000 after purchasing an additional 12,014,785 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1,252.4% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,204,563 shares of the bank's stock worth $586,883,000 after purchasing an additional 8,523,938 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,719,160 shares of the bank's stock worth $282,927,000 after buying an additional 28,602 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 31.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 3,685,819 shares of the bank's stock worth $258,265,000 after buying an additional 875,666 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $82.00 price target on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Monday, October 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $89.00 to $87.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Bank of America cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $82.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $79.00 to $74.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Thursday, October 8th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $75.00 target price for the company. Seventeen research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $76.79.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of CFG opened at $63.34 on Friday. 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 firm's 50-day moving average is $65.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.64. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $49.00 and a twelve month high of $75.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.74, a PEG ratio of 0.58 and a beta of 0.74.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.34 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.05 earnings per share. On average, research 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 41.85%.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through Citizens Bank and related businesses, it provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions.

Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, personal and business loans, credit cards, wealth management, and commercial lending and cash-management services. The company also provides capital markets and other financial services to corporate clients.

Citizens traces its history to High Street Bank, founded in Providence in 1828.

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