Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Director Michael Philip Harwood Acquires 10,000 Shares of Stock

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) Director Michael Philip Harwood acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 31st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $3.80 per share, for a total transaction of $38,000.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 11,096 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $42,164.80. The trade was a 912.41% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Citizens Price Performance

Shares of Citizens stock opened at $3.84 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $214.92 million, a PE ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.43. Citizens, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.56 and a 1 year high of $6.54. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $5.15.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $61.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.85 million. Citizens had a return on equity of 4.73% and a net margin of 4.55%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens, Inc. will post 0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Citizens

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,441,277 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $12,817,000 after purchasing an additional 21,783 shares during the period. Continental General Insurance Co. increased its position in shares of Citizens by 34.8% during the fourth quarter. Continental General Insurance Co. now owns 2,176,694 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $10,513,000 after buying an additional 562,419 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Citizens by 118.0% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,032,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,603,000 after buying an additional 558,840 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 617,732 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,984,000 after buying an additional 43,826 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 473,232 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $2,286,000 after buying an additional 21,963 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on CIA. Wall Street Zen upgraded Citizens from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Citigroup began coverage on Citizens in a research note on Monday, August 24th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings cut Citizens from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Freedom Broker assumed coverage on Citizens in a report on Monday, August 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $5.50 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.50.

About Citizens

Citizens, Inc (NYSE:CIA) is a bank holding company headquartered in Conway, Arkansas. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, Citizens Bank of Northern Arkansas, the company provides commercial and consumer banking services to individuals, small businesses and corporate clients across Northern and Central Arkansas.

Citizens offers a range of deposit products, including checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, alongside lending solutions such as residential mortgages, commercial real estate loans and consumer installment loans.