865,672 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG Acquired by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 865,672 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $55,195,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,415,046,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 7,979.7% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 12,165,352 shares of the bank’s stock worth $775,663,000 after acquiring an additional 12,014,785 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1,252.4% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,204,563 shares of the bank’s stock worth $586,883,000 after acquiring an additional 8,523,938 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 4,682.2% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 3,285,906 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $209,509,000 after purchasing an additional 3,217,195 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the second quarter valued at approximately $223,386,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on CFG. Stephens dropped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $70.00 to $65.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $89.00 to $87.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $78.00 to $72.50 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Seventeen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.79.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $65.41 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $65.65 and its 200-day moving average is $65.67. The company has a market cap of $27.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.59 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $49.00 and a 12 month high of $75.33.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 16th. The bank reported $1.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.34 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.05 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate 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 declared 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 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 41.85%.

Citizens Financial Group Company 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.