SG Americas Securities LLC Raises Holdings in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 1,073.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 332,912 shares of the bank’s stock after purchasing an additional 304,553 shares during the quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Citizens Financial Group worth $14,568,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Costello Asset Management INC purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CFG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $58.00 target price (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $46.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Citizens Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.00.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of CFG opened at $47.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.91. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $30.24 and a 1-year high of $49.25. The stock has a market cap of $20.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.10.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1,962,330 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.45%.

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.