Wall Street Zen Downgrades Citizens (NYSE:CIA) to Strong Sell

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

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Citizens from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Citizens Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Citizens stock opened at $3.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $223.10 million, a PE ratio of 18.98 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $5.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $5.31. Citizens has a 12 month low of $3.56 and a 12 month high of $6.54.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jon Stenberg purchased 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 11th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $3.65 per share, with a total value of $43,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 389,574 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,421,945.10. This represents a 3.18% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 27,376 shares of company stock worth $112,590. Corporate insiders own 2.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 3,686.7% during the second 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 during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in 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 during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. purchased a new position in Citizens during the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company bought a new position in Citizens during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Citizens during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $84,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

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.