Citizens Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZFS) Short Interest Up 88.7% in July

Citizens Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZFS) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 41,700 shares, a growth of 88.7% from the June 30th total of 22,100 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 12,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.4 days.

Citizens Financial Services Trading Up 3.5 %

CZFS traded up $1.91 during trading on Friday, reaching $56.86. 15,054 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 20,861. Citizens Financial Services has a one year low of $38.52 and a one year high of $71.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $267.81 million, a PE ratio of 15.41 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $44.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.02.

Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The company reported $1.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by ($0.06). Citizens Financial Services had a net margin of 11.63% and a return on equity of 10.43%. The firm had revenue of $25.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $25.90 million. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Services will post 5.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Services Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 14th were paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 14th. Citizens Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.12%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Janney Montgomery Scott raised shares of Citizens Financial Services from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $53.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 30th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens Financial Services

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Services during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Services during the 4th quarter valued at $119,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 23,761 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after acquiring an additional 4,369 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 229,271 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,280,000 after acquiring an additional 10,058 shares during the period. 22.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Citizens Financial Services

Citizens Financial Services, Inc, a bank holding company, provides various banking products and services for individual, business, governmental, and institutional customers. The company accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its loan products include residential, commercial, and agricultural real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; state and political subdivision loans; and consumer loans, as well as various other specialized financial services.