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

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

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $32.90 on Friday. Citizens Financial Group has a 1-year low of $22.77 and a 1-year high of $36.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.08 billion, a PE ratio of 11.92 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50 day moving average is $33.28 and its 200-day moving average is $30.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 4,508 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.54, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.62% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Kinneret Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 13,296 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $603,000 after buying an additional 298 shares in the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 5.6% in the first quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC now owns 8,393 shares of the bank’s stock worth $255,000 after purchasing an additional 446 shares in the last quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 6.4% in the first quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,481 shares of the bank’s stock worth $227,000 after purchasing an additional 448 shares in the last quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 93.6% in the first quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 964 shares of the bank’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co boosted its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 37,893 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,718,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CFG. StockNews.com lowered Citizens Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. Barclays lowered Citizens Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $38.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.88.

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.