Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.10 EPS

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.75 by ($0.10), RTT News reports. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 11.52%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:CFG opened at $32.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $33.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.58. Citizens Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $22.77 and a fifty-two week high of $36.38.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.11%. Citizens Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 60.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction of $151,198.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,471,902.90. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 644,458 shares of the bank’s stock worth $21,358,000 after purchasing an additional 18,917 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,286 shares of the bank’s stock worth $765,000 after purchasing an additional 4,566 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $247,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 261,455 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,665,000 after buying an additional 1,572 shares during the period. Finally, LifePro Asset Management purchased a new position in Citizens Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,000,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 26th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $36.29.

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.