Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Cut to “Sell” at Wall Street Zen

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Thursday.

Citizens Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of CIA opened at $3.84 on Thursday. Citizens has a twelve month low of $2.33 and a twelve month high of $5.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $191.64 million, a P/E ratio of 8.93 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $4.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $4.49.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $63.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.66 million. Analysts predict that Citizens will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Citizens

In other Citizens news, CEO Jon Stenberg purchased 106,340 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.89 per share, for a total transaction of $413,662.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $483,772.07. This trade represents a 590.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CIA. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens during the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens in the fourth quarter valued at $63,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens during the fourth quarter valued at $92,000. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens during the fourth quarter valued at $120,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Citizens by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,176 shares in the last quarter. 13.73% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Citizens

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.