Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Short Interest Update

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 14,410,000 shares, a decline of 21.8% from the October 15th total of 18,430,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,890,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CFG traded up $0.20 on Friday, reaching $46.78. The stock had a trading volume of 3,793,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,555,918. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.87. Citizens Financial Group has a 12-month low of $26.13 and a 12-month high of $48.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.42.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The bank reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.94 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.37% and a return on equity of 5.73%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.85 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.2 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 66.14%.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Commerce Bank raised its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 13,177 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 12.7% during the second quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 2,344 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $84,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 11,395 shares of the bank’s stock worth $468,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 8,046 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 88,829 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,648,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CFG. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Citizens Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.80.

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.