Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Now Covered by Analysts at Freedom Broker

Freedom Broker started coverage on shares of Citizens (NYSE:CIA) in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $5.50 target price on the insurance provider’s stock.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Citizens from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 15th. Citigroup started coverage on shares of Citizens in a report on Monday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Citizens from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $5.50.

Citizens Stock Performance

Shares of CIA opened at $3.95 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.14 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81 and a beta of 0.48. Citizens has a 52 week low of $3.56 and a 52 week high of $6.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $5.06 and a 200-day moving average of $5.23.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.06). Citizens had a net margin of 4.55% and a return on equity of 4.73%. The firm had revenue of $61.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.85 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Citizens will post 0.12 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens

In related news, CEO Jon Stenberg purchased 12,000 shares of Citizens stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.65 per share, for a total transaction of $43,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 389,574 shares in the company, valued at $1,421,945.10. The trade was a 3.18% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Citizens by 3,686.7% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 14,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 14,157 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 92.1% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 5,141 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Citizens during the third quarter valued at about $57,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new position in shares of Citizens during the second quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Citizens in the fourth quarter worth about $84,000. 13.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Citizens

Citizens, Inc (NYSE:CIA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Conway, Arkansas. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Citizens Bank of Northern Arkansas, the company provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, small businesses and corporate clients across Northern and Central Arkansas.

Citizens offers a range of deposit products, including checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside lending solutions such as residential mortgages, commercial real estate loans and consumer installment loans.