Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Citizens Financial Group Call Options (NYSE:CFG)

by · The Markets Daily

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG – Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 8,105 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 80% compared to the average volume of 4,495 call options.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 36,709,412 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,332,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,552,333 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 1.8% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 6,580,797 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $237,106,000 after buying an additional 113,300 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,429,264 shares of the bank’s stock worth $159,550,000 after buying an additional 587,115 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Citizens Financial Group by 61.4% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 4,422,948 shares of the bank’s stock worth $155,909,000 after acquiring an additional 1,682,886 shares during the period. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 15.3% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 3,625,128 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $130,722,000 after acquiring an additional 480,129 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 94.90% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE CFG opened at $40.06 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $41.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.51. Citizens Financial Group has a 1 year low of $22.77 and a 1 year high of $43.96.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG – Get Free Report) 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.95 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.92 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Citizens Financial Group will post 3.24 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CFG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $42.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Citizens Financial Group from $35.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Citizens Financial Group from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Stephens boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.07.

Read Our Latest Report on Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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