Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.42

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, April 17th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 1st will be given a dividend of 0.42 per share by the bank on Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.06%.

Citizens Financial Group has raised its dividend by an average of 2.5% per year over the last three years. Citizens Financial Group has a payout ratio of 41.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Citizens Financial Group to earn $4.02 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.68 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 41.8%.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock traded up $0.76 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $33.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,038,867 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,881,044. Citizens Financial Group has a 1-year low of $22.77 and a 1-year high of $36.38. The business has a fifty day moving average of $33.21 and a 200 day moving average of $30.54. The company has a market capitalization of $15.21 billion, a PE ratio of 10.42 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.60 by ($0.26). The firm had revenue of $2 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 7.40%. Citizens Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Group

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CFG. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Clear Street Markets LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 93.6% during the 1st quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 964 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 466 shares during the period. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,000. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CFG. Barclays downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. 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 research note on Monday, April 8th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Citizens Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 26th. One research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.88.

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.