Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Stock: Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Raises Stake

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 1,532.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 373,122 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 350,270 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $23,790,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CFG. Bank of America Corp DE bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth $223,386,000. Tidal Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 12.4% in the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 145,378 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,187,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Freestone Grove Partners LP bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the second quarter valued at $95,642,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 145.6% during the third quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 773,677 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $49,330,000 after purchasing an additional 458,698 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sterling Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter valued at $2,164,000. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 0.9%

CFG stock opened at $65.41 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $27.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a P/E/G ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a current ratio of 0.86. The business’s 50-day moving average is $65.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.67. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $49.00 and a fifty-two week high of $75.33.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.52% and a net margin of 18.07%. The business had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 5.30 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This is a positive change from Citizens Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 41.85%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on CFG. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $79.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 19th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $82.00 to $77.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $77.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $82.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.79.

Citizens Financial Group Profile

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island. Through Citizens Bank and related businesses, it provides retail and commercial banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions. Its offerings include checking and savings accounts, mortgages, personal and business loans, credit cards, wealth management, and commercial lending and cash-management services. The company also provides capital markets and other financial services to corporate clients.