Stanley Laman Group Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Citizens Financial Group, Inc. $CFG

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:CFG) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 73,314 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $4,282,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CFG. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Group by 2.4% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,531 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $472,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 6.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 8,838 shares of the bank’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 554 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 39.5% in the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 36,932 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,513,000 after acquiring an additional 10,466 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 93.4% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 9,814 shares of the bank’s stock worth $439,000 after acquiring an additional 4,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Group by 5.2% in the second quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 65,564 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,934,000 after acquiring an additional 3,225 shares in the last quarter. 94.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CFG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $60.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $65.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $75.00 target price on shares of Citizens Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Barclays set a $77.00 target price on Citizens Financial Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Citizens Financial Group from $71.00 to $68.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Twenty equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.14.

Citizens Financial Group Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:CFG opened at $64.20 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $27.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a PEG ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.84. Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $33.73 and a 1 year high of $68.79. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $61.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $57.72.

Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 21st. The bank reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.16 billion. Citizens Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.81% and a net margin of 15.19%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.85 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Citizens Financial Group, Inc. will post 3.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 18th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, February 4th were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 4th. Citizens Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.55%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Susan Lamonica sold 13,258 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.04, for a total transaction of $769,494.32. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 165,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,632,956.84. This represents a 7.40% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.67% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Citizens Financial Group

Citizens Financial Group, Inc (NYSE: CFG) is a bank holding company that provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, small and middle-market businesses, corporations and institutional clients. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens conducts its banking operations principally through its primary banking subsidiary, Citizens Bank, and serves customers through a combination of branch locations, ATMs and digital channels. The company is publicly traded and operates under the regulatory framework applicable to U.S.