Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) Cut to Hold at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen cut shares of Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CZFS. Zacks Research lowered shares of Citizens Financial Services from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Citizens Financial Services from a “hold (c)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy”.

Citizens Financial Services Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CZFS opened at $81.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $390.04 million, a P/E ratio of 9.48 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.12. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $72.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.57. Citizens Financial Services has a twelve month low of $52.35 and a twelve month high of $83.37.

Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $29.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $29.30 million. Citizens Financial Services had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 23.31%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Citizens Financial Services will post 8.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Citizens Financial Services Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 12th were issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 12th. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Citizens Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.86%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens Financial Services

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Lawood & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Citizens Financial Services during the fourth quarter worth approximately $612,000. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Services in the 4th quarter worth approximately $413,000. Strs Ohio boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 16.4% in the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 6,400 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 12.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,591 shares of the company’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens Financial Services in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,684,000. 22.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Financial Services Company Profile

Citizens Financial Services, Inc (NASDAQ:CZFS) is a bank holding company headquartered in Elderton, Pennsylvania, providing a range of retail and commercial banking services through its primary subsidiary, Citizens Savings Bank. The company offers deposit products such as checking and savings accounts, money market accounts and certificates of deposit, supported by online and mobile banking platforms tailored to personal and business clients.

Beyond deposit-taking, Citizens Financial Services underwrites a variety of lending products, including residential mortgage loans, home equity financing, commercial real estate loans, construction lending and consumer installment loans.