Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 1,109 Shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG)

Securian Asset Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,685 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 1,109 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Citizens Financial Group were worth $1,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 25,826,368 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,060,689,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615,144 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 207.2% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,272,043 shares of the bank’s stock worth $339,733,000 after purchasing an additional 5,579,313 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 4,974,434 shares of the bank’s stock worth $217,781,000 after purchasing an additional 805,758 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 31.0% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 3,543,207 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,051,000 after buying an additional 839,041 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 11.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,144,635 shares of the bank’s stock worth $129,150,000 after buying an additional 334,386 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Raymond James reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating and set a $58.00 price objective (up previously from $55.00) on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $49.22.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

CFG opened at $40.72 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $45.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $44.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.85. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $32.06 and a 52 week high of $49.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a PE ratio of 13.44, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 12.21% and a return on equity of 6.75%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio 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.