Lincoln Capital Corp Invests $210,000 in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Lincoln Capital Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 6,340 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $210,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 32.5% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,212 shares of the bank’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 2,992 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 123.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 491,005 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,805,000 after buying an additional 270,777 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE grew its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 115.3% in the 2nd quarter. Point72 Middle East FZE now owns 410,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,697,000 after buying an additional 219,670 shares during the period. Natixis acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $711,000. Finally, SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3,222.9% during the 3rd quarter. SeaTown Holdings Pte. Ltd. now owns 1,163,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $31,168,000 after acquiring an additional 1,128,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CFG shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Citigroup raised Citizens Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $36.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 5th. TheStreet raised Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.00.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Up 2.9 %

Citizens Financial Group stock traded up $1.02 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $35.84. 4,122,277 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,991,484. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.77 and a 1 year high of $36.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 0.88 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.52 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $32.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.76.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by ($0.26). The business had revenue of $2 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.40% and a net margin of 13.19%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.25 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a $0.42 dividend. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.02%.

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In related news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total value of $151,198.32. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

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.