World Investment Advisors Makes New Investment in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 9,996 shares of the bank's stock, valued at approximately $410,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its stake 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 buying an additional 334 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 673.0% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 889 shares of the bank's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares in the last quarter. NBT Bank N A NY purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Wayfinding Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,000. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $51.00 to $43.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $57.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $54.00 to $43.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The firm moved its midcap bank industry view from Attractive to In-line, saying “higher and faster than expected” tariffs raise recession risks, will weigh on loan growth and in-turn, forward earnings and multiples. The group is “cheap,” but weaker for longer loan growth and inverted yield curve limit upside catalysts. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $49.32.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of CFG stock traded down $0.15 on Friday, hitting $47.75. 1,150,293 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,787,042. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a one year low of $32.60 and a one year high of $49.25. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $41.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.76.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 16th. The bank reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.76% and a return on equity of 6.84%. Equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.33%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Friday, June 13th that permits the company to repurchase $1.50 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the bank to buy up to 8.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are 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.