Kentucky Retirement Systems Lowers Position in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lessened its stake in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,289 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,117 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,235,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,332,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,333 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock worth $237,106,000 after purchasing an additional 113,300 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after purchasing an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,625,128 shares of the bank’s stock worth $130,722,000 after purchasing an additional 480,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $117,372,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Stephens upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.20.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of CFG opened at $41.65 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $22.77 and a 52-week high of $43.96. The company has a market capitalization of $18.95 billion, a PE ratio of 15.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $41.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 10.74%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.95 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.92 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total transaction of $170,357.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,620 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,454,401.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.