M&G Plc Grows Stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

M&G Plc boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 277,228 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,936 shares during the quarter. M&G Plc’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $11,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CFG. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,332,185,000 after buying an additional 1,552,333 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $237,106,000 after acquiring an additional 113,300 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after purchasing an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $155,909,000 after purchasing an additional 1,682,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,764,090 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $99,448,000 after purchasing an additional 45,038 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CFG. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens boosted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.80.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 4.7 %

Shares of NYSE CFG opened at $46.03 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $24.61 and a 1 year high of $48.35. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.86. The company has a market cap of $20.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.73% and a net margin of 10.37%. Citizens Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.85 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.14%.

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.