Craig Jack Read Sells 6,327 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Stock

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) insider Craig Jack Read sold 6,327 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.70, for a total transaction of $213,219.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 37,558 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,265,704.60. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Craig Jack Read also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 5th, Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $34.98 on Wednesday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.77 and a 12-month high of $36.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.04 billion, a PE ratio of 12.67 and a beta of 1.38. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.83.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 60.87%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet raised Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. UBS Group raised their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 18th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 18th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,959,000. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $327,000 after buying an additional 2,992 shares in the last quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd now owns 1,296,648 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $42,970,000 after acquiring an additional 431,624 shares during the last quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3,222.9% during the 3rd quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,163,000 shares of the bank’s stock worth $31,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Kornitzer Capital Management Inc. KS now owns 539,730 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,887,000 after acquiring an additional 7,205 shares during the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.