Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Shares Gap Down – Time to Sell?

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $43.48, but opened at $42.33. Citizens Financial Group shares last traded at $44.04, with a volume of 2,302,800 shares traded.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $41.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 5th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.07.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 0.1 %

The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.94. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The company has a market capitalization of $19.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.07.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 10.74% and a return on equity of 6.21%. The company’s revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.22 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.87%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Citizens Financial Group news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total transaction of $170,357.88. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 33,620 shares in the company, valued at $1,454,401.20. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 124.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 14,897 shares of the bank’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 8,262 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.1% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 208,476 shares of the bank’s stock worth $8,562,000 after purchasing an additional 2,245 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $83,000. Viking Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 200.0% in the third quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC now owns 3,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $123,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 558.5% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the bank’s stock worth $70,000 after buying an additional 1,452 shares during the period. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

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.