Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 1,076.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 67,267 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 61,547 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $2,944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $339,733,000 after purchasing an additional 5,579,313 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,060,689,000 after buying an additional 1,615,144 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 51.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,644,542 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $107,897,000 after acquiring an additional 894,322 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,543,207 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,051,000 after acquiring an additional 839,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 124.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,511,148 shares of the bank’s stock worth $62,063,000 after acquiring an additional 838,917 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CFG. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, January 29th. Citigroup raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $50.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $49.00.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of CFG stock opened at $41.66 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $32.06 and a twelve month high of $49.25. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.75, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.45%.

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.