Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Shares Sold by Fulton Bank N.A.

Fulton Bank N.A. lowered its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG – Get Rating) by 14.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 6,364 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,045 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $251,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 0.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,764,211 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,984,777,000 after purchasing an additional 498,557 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 1.7% during the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 47,431,255 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,629,737,000 after acquiring an additional 787,199 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 26,089,425 shares of the bank’s stock worth $896,433,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,261 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock worth $861,383,000 after acquiring an additional 8,203,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 0.5% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,191,346 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $507,304,000 after acquiring an additional 50,382 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.96% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on CFG. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 1st. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 15th. Finally, DA Davidson initiated coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, December 21st. They set a “buy” rating and a $47.00 target price on the stock. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.17.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Kevin Cummings sold 90,689 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.00, for a total transaction of $3,899,627.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 455,789 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,598,927. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.48% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:CFG opened at $30.86 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $29.72 and a 12-month high of $50.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The firm has a market cap of $14.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 1.37.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 17th. The bank reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by ($0.05). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 22.86% and a return on equity of 11.24%. The company had revenue of $2.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.22 billion. Research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.03 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.18%.

Citizens Financial Group announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Friday, February 17th that allows the company to buyback $1.15 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the bank to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

About Citizens Financial Group

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Citizens Financial Group, Inc engages in the provision of commercial banking services. It operates through the Consumer Banking and Commercial Banking segments. The Consumer Banking segment includes deposit products, mortgage and home equity lending, student loans, auto financing, credit cards, business loans, and wealth management and investment services.