Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens (NYSE:CIA) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Citizens in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Citizens has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Citizens Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Citizens stock opened at $4.67 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $5.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.46. Citizens has a 12-month low of $2.90 and a 12-month high of $6.40. The stock has a market cap of $234.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66 and a beta of 0.43.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The insurance provider reported $0.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.03. Citizens had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 7.23%. The firm had revenue of $72.07 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.89 million. On average, analysts forecast that Citizens will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Citizens news, CEO Jon Stenberg bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $4.81 per share, for a total transaction of $48,100.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 208,930 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,004,953.30. The trade was a 5.03% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Citizens

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIA. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Citizens by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,441,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,817,000 after purchasing an additional 21,783 shares during the last quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. raised its holdings in shares of Citizens by 34.8% in the fourth quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 2,176,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,513,000 after buying an additional 562,419 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 118.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,032,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $3,603,000 after buying an additional 558,840 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 7.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 617,732 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,984,000 after buying an additional 43,826 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Citizens by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 473,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,286,000 after buying an additional 21,963 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

About Citizens

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.