Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Rating Lowered to Hold at StockNews.com

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

Citizens Price Performance

NYSE CIA opened at $2.00 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $2.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $2.76. Citizens has a 12 month low of $1.64 and a 12 month high of $3.69. The company has a market capitalization of $99.14 million, a P/E ratio of 4.21 and a beta of 0.19.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The insurance provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter. Citizens had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 15.61%. The business had revenue of $65.61 million for the quarter.

Insider Transactions at Citizens

In other news, CEO Gerald Shields bought 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.22 per share, with a total value of $35,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 168,724 shares in the company, valued at approximately $374,567.28. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have bought a total of 24,000 shares of company stock valued at $52,287 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.88% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its position in Citizens by 124.1% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 195,439 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $526,000 after purchasing an additional 108,226 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens during the third quarter valued at approximately $96,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Citizens during the third quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Citizens during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in Citizens by 10.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304 shares in the last quarter. 13.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Citizens Company Profile

Citizens, Inc provides life insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance. The Life Insurance segment issues ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies in the United States dollar-denominated amounts to non-U.S.