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

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Saturday.

Several other research firms have also recently issued reports on CZNC. Weiss Ratings upgraded Citizens & Northern from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Zacks Research raised Citizens & Northern from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $23.50.

Citizens & Northern Stock Performance

CZNC stock opened at $25.39 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $22.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.47. Citizens & Northern has a fifty-two week low of $18.16 and a fifty-two week high of $25.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $454.99 million, a PE ratio of 23.29 and a beta of 0.41.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The financial services provider reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.56). The firm had revenue of $36.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $35.60 million. Citizens & Northern had a net margin of 9.67% and a return on equity of 7.47%. Analysts forecast that Citizens & Northern will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Citizens & Northern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Citizens & Northern’s payout ratio is presently 102.75%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in Citizens & Northern in the first quarter valued at about $1,498,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens & Northern by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 416,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,396,000 after buying an additional 50,343 shares during the period. Citizens & Northern Corp grew its position in shares of Citizens & Northern by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. Citizens & Northern Corp now owns 361,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,290,000 after buying an additional 40,323 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citizens & Northern in the 4th quarter valued at about $647,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Citizens & Northern by 105.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 57,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,096,000 after acquiring an additional 29,687 shares during the last quarter. 30.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.