Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) Shares Gap Up Following Dividend Announcement

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) shares gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock had previously closed at $32.41, but opened at $33.28. Citizens Financial Group shares last traded at $33.28, with a volume of 4,663,974 shares traded.

The newly announced 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. This represents a $1.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 30th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on CFG shares. Wedbush dropped their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $31.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.29.

Citizens Financial Group Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $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 (NYSE:CFG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 17th. The bank reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.96 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a net margin of 11.52% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.00 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.25 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling 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. Insiders own 0.62% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

Several 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. Czech National Bank raised its position in Citizens Financial Group by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 82,032 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,977,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 21,343 shares of the bank’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 11,071 shares of the bank’s stock worth $367,000 after acquiring an additional 439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Connable Office Inc. raised its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Connable Office Inc. now owns 17,319 shares of the bank’s stock worth $574,000 after acquiring an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.90% 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.