Wall Street Zen Downgrades Citizens (NYSE:CIA) to Hold

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Sunday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Citizens in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Citizens currently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Citizens Stock Performance

CIA opened at $4.82 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $5.39 and its two-hundred day moving average is $5.44. The firm has a market cap of $242.60 million, a PE ratio of 17.23 and a beta of 0.43. Citizens has a twelve month low of $2.90 and a twelve month high of $6.40.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The insurance provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $72.07 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.89 million. Citizens had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 7.23%. Equities analysts forecast that Citizens will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens

In related news, CEO Jon Stenberg purchased 10,000 shares of Citizens stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $4.81 per share, for a total transaction of $48,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 208,930 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,004,953.30. This represents a 5.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CIA. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey acquired a new position in Citizens in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Citizens by 3,686.7% during 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 raised its stake in shares of Citizens by 92.1% in 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 during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new stake in shares of Citizens in the second quarter valued at about $63,000. 13.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citizens Company Profile

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.