Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Strong-Buy” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday.

CZNC has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Citizens & Northern from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $23.50.

Citizens & Northern Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:CZNC opened at $25.98 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 business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $22.76. Citizens & Northern has a fifty-two week low of $18.87 and a fifty-two week high of $26.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $465.82 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 0.40.

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

Citizens & Northern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. 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 currently 75.68%.

Institutional Trading of Citizens & Northern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CZNC. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 521.1% in the third quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 1,433 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its position in Citizens & Northern by 71.4% during the 4th quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 1,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 749 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in Citizens & Northern during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Citizens & Northern during the 2nd quarter worth about $58,000. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in Citizens & Northern by 596.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 3,432 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 2,939 shares in the last quarter. 30.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.