Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on CZNC. Weiss Ratings raised Citizens & Northern from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised Citizens & Northern from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Citizens & Northern Price Performance

CZNC stock opened at $26.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $468.15 million, a P/E ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 0.40. Citizens & Northern has a 52-week low of $18.87 and a 52-week high of $26.26. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.07.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.16. Citizens & Northern had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 9.54%. The firm had revenue of $39.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.60 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Citizens & Northern will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Citizens & Northern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Monday, August 3rd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Citizens & Northern’s payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens & Northern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 53,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 25,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $507,000 after acquiring an additional 673 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 71.4% during the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in Citizens & Northern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $544,000 after purchasing an additional 774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Citizens & Northern by 6.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.83% of the company’s stock.

Citizens & Northern Company Profile

Citizens & Northern Corporation is the bank holding company for Citizens & Northern Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Chartered in 1888, the company has cultivated deep roots in north central Pennsylvania and selected counties in upstate New York, offering a broad spectrum of banking services tailored to individuals, families and local businesses.

Through its flagship banking subsidiary, Citizens & Northern provides personal deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts.