Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens (NYSE:CIA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note released on Thursday.

Citizens Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CIA opened at $4.67 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $233.22 million, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.11. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $4.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $4.51. Citizens has a one year low of $1.78 and a one year high of $5.95.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.03). Citizens had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 8.87%. The company had revenue of $63.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.66 million. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CIA. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $148,000 after buying an additional 3,176 shares during the last quarter. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in Citizens in the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in Citizens in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 202,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 66,718 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 427,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 3,235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Company Profile

Citizens, Inc provides life insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates in two segments, Life Insurance and Home Service Insurance. The Life Insurance segment issues ordinary whole life insurance and endowment policies in the United States dollar-denominated amounts to non-U.S.