Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (CFG) to Distribute Quarterly Dividend of $0.42 on August 14th

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 17th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.42 per share by the bank on Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st.

Citizens Financial Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.5% annually over the last three years. Citizens Financial Group has a payout ratio of 42.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Citizens Financial Group to earn $3.95 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 42.5%.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Citizens Financial Group stock opened at $43.23 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.60. Citizens Financial Group has a 52 week low of $22.77 and a 52 week high of $43.96. The company has a market capitalization of $19.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.10.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 17th. The bank reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by ($0.01). Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.21% and a net margin of 10.74%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.92 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens Financial Group

In other news, insider Craig Jack Read sold 3,938 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.26, for a total transaction of $170,357.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 33,620 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,454,401.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.62% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CFG. Stephens increased their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Wedbush reduced their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $38.00 to $35.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.60.

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.