Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) Short Interest Up 22.8% in March

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 12,160,000 shares, a growth of 22.8% from the February 28th total of 9,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,320,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Citizens Financial Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CHURCHILL MANAGEMENT Corp acquired a new stake in Citizens Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $8,134,000. BTC Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 42,999 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,882,000 after purchasing an additional 7,119 shares during the last quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. bought a new position in Citizens Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $6,694,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 1,152,151 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,430,000 after buying an additional 367,439 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 19.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of CFG traded down $0.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $40.51. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,935,398 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,732,011. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $32.06 and a 1 year high of $49.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $17.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a fifty day moving average of $44.37 and a 200 day moving average of $44.17.

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

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.45%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CFG. Compass Point lifted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $48.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $53.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, January 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $53.00 to $56.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $58.00 to $51.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.67.

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.