Citizens Financial Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:CFG)

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 7,343 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 222% compared to the average daily volume of 2,278 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CFG. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $8,134,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,882,000 after buying an additional 7,119 shares in the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $6,694,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,152,151 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,430,000 after buying an additional 367,439 shares during the period. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,910,000. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Truist Financial lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $49.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Stephens reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $53.00 price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

CFG traded down $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $44.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 903,772 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,654,259. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.04. The stock has a market cap of $19.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.66, a PEG ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.10. Citizens Financial Group has a twelve month low of $30.30 and a twelve month high of $49.25.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.75% and a net margin of 12.21%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.79%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 55.45%.

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.