Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Downgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Citizens (NYSE:CIA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Citizens Price Performance

CIA opened at $2.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $103.11 million, a P/E ratio of 4.33 and a beta of 0.19. Citizens has a 1-year low of $1.64 and a 1-year high of $3.69. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $2.75.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 14th. The insurance provider reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter. The business had revenue of $65.61 million during the quarter. Citizens had a net margin of 10.15% and a return on equity of 15.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Gerald Shields bought 16,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 21st. The stock was purchased at an average price of $2.22 per share, for a total transaction of $35,520.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 168,724 shares in the company, valued at $374,567.28. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders bought a total of 24,000 shares of company stock worth $52,287 over the last three months. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in Citizens by 10.2% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,416 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 4,304 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens in the third quarter valued at $249,000. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens in the third quarter valued at $66,000. Citigroup Inc. purchased a new position in Citizens in the 3rd quarter worth about $96,000. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management purchased a new position in Citizens in the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. 13.73% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.