Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 5,255,642 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Key Points

• Wellington Management Group LLP reduced its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 49.7%, selling over 5 million shares, leaving them with 5.3 million shares worth approximately $217.7 million.
• Citizens Financial Group reported better-than-expected earnings of $0.92 per share, exceeding expectations by $0.04, alongside a quarterly revenue of $2.04 billion.
• The company announced a stock repurchase program of $1.50 billion, reflecting management's belief that their shares are undervalued.

Wellington Management Group LLP lowered its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) by 49.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,314,441 shares of the bank's stock after selling 5,255,642 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned approximately 1.22% of Citizens Financial Group worth $217,733,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CFG. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 97.1% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 678 shares of the bank's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 673.0% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 889 shares of the bank's stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the period. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC increased its stake 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 stake in Citizens Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of CFG traded up $2.2750 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $50.7350. The stock had a trading volume of 5,326,541 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,873,187. The firm has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 15.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.78. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $32.60 and a one year high of $50.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54.

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. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that allows the company to buyback $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to repurchase up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 51.06%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CFG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $48.00 to $55.00 in a 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 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen started coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $57.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.53.

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.