Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) Trading 2.3% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

Citizens Financial Services Inc. (NASDAQ:CZFS)’s stock price rose 2.3% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Zacks Research upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating. The company traded as high as $74.70 and last traded at $74.13. 10,155 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 18% from the average daily volume of 12,393 shares. The stock had previously closed at $72.44.

Separately, Weiss Ratings downgraded Citizens Financial Services from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Citizens Financial Services currently has an average rating of “Buy”.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CZFS. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 28.2% in the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 20,701 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,266,000 after purchasing an additional 4,553 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Citizens Financial Services by 69.2% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $490,000 after purchasing an additional 3,280 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in Citizens Financial Services by 127.7% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,018 shares of the company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 571 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its position in Citizens Financial Services by 35.5% in the first quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 13,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $847,000 after buying an additional 3,626 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 16.8% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 28,590 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,748,000 after buying an additional 4,115 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 22.49% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Financial Services Stock Performance

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $63.63. The stock has a market cap of $346.61 million, a P/E ratio of 8.82 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.58.

Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $2.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.18. Citizens Financial Services had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 22.47%.The company had revenue of $29.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $29.10 million. As a group, analysts expect that Citizens Financial Services Inc. will post 8.23 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 12th. This is a positive change from Citizens Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Citizens Financial Services’s payout ratio is 24.91%.

About Citizens Financial Services

Citizens Financial Services, Inc (NASDAQ:CZFS) is a bank holding company headquartered in Elderton, Pennsylvania, providing a range of retail and commercial banking services through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Savings Bank. The company offers deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, supported by online and mobile banking platforms tailored to personal and business clients.

Beyond deposit-taking, Citizens Financial Services underwrites a variety of lending products, including residential mortgage loans, home equity financing, commercial real estate loans, construction lending and consumer installment loans.