As we approach the spring season of 2023, Citizens Financial Group has recently announced its plans to initiate a new share buyback program that would allow the company to purchase $1.15 billion in outstanding shares through open market purchases. This is seen as an indication by many industry experts that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued, as stock buyback programs are often a tell-tale sign of underselling.
The announcement follows news that Louisiana State Employees Retirement System had reduced holdings in Citizens Financial Group by almost 47% during the fourth quarter of 2022, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company sold over 28,000 shares during this period, leaving them with 31,800 shares worth $1.25 million at the end of reporting.
Despite these recent developments in ownership, analysts offer mixed assessments on what it means for CFG’s future investment prospects. Citigroup increased their target price on CFG stocks from $45 to $47 in a report issued Wednesday, February 22nd whilst giving the stock “neutral” rating; however, Royal Bank of Canada rendered a different perspective by lowering its target price from $55 to $48 on Friday, March 24th and setting an “outperform” rating for the company itself.
Other firms have offered their input on CFG’s investments: DA Davidson gave the bank a ‘buy’ uptick while assigning it a target price of $47 per share; meanwhile, StockNews.com has given Citizens Financial Group neutral ratings for past actions and events.
The average rating among all five equities research analysts for Citizens Financial Group is calculated at “Moderate Buy,” according to Bloomberg sources – which may be considered optimistic compared to other expert opinions within the industry – offering hope that CFG may achieve an overall positive outlook for investors despite deeper analysis suggesting more disruptive market trends ahead. Will Louisiana State Employees Retirement System dip into these buys? Only time will reveal the answer.
Citizens Financial Group Inc.: Shifting Positions and Growing Potential in the Financial World
Citizens Financial Group, Inc. has been making waves in the financial world recently. The company has seen some significant changes to its positions from several institutional investors in the past year alone. Notably, Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Group by an astounding 1,656.0% during the third quarter of last year, while Ronald Blue Trust Inc. followed suit with a jump of 273.6%. As a result of these moves, 88.96% of the company’s stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Additionally, Director Kevin Cummings recently sold over 81,000 shares of Citizens Financial Group stock for a total value of over $3 million. This sale was completed in February and was made public through a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Despite all these changes to their positions, CFG stock opened at just $29.07 on April 7th, with a market capitalization of $14.08 billion and a P/E ratio of 7.13. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.60.
Moreover, Citizens Financial Group reported earnings results last January that fell short of analysts’ expectations in terms of EPS with just $1.25 instead of the expected $1.30 per share value; however, it had revenue amounting to $2.20 billion for the quarter that signaled decent growth.
Although there have been some significant changes and challenges along the way for Citizens Financial Group as far back as October last year when institutional investors started shifting away from their holdings in banks due to uncertain economic futures post-pandemic era – many remain optimistic about what this means for future growth within CFG as well as potential new investment opportunities from other companies looking into acquiring it or partnering up since then until now given many had done so such as Goldman Sachs, for instance.
