Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Stake Reduced by WASHINGTON TRUST Co

WASHINGTON TRUST Co trimmed its holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 52.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 874 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 976 shares during the quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $29,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 4.9% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 60,391,319 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,575,006,000 after purchasing an additional 2,799,127 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,577,041 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $776,775,000 after acquiring an additional 241,869 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 76.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 19,002,482 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $861,383,000 after acquiring an additional 8,203,831 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 18.0% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,297,989 shares of the bank’s stock worth $720,392,000 after acquiring an additional 2,785,751 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,594,481 shares of the bank’s stock worth $310,732,000 after acquiring an additional 621,715 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Wedbush lowered their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.63.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $36.29 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $16.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.80. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.77 and a 52-week high of $36.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.26). Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 7.40%. The business had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.25 earnings per share. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.