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

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Saturday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Citizens & Northern from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $23.50.

Citizens & Northern Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ CZNC opened at $26.11 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $468.15 million, a P/E ratio of 17.64 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $24.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Citizens & Northern has a 52-week low of $18.87 and a 52-week high of $26.26.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last posted its earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $39.65 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $38.60 million. Citizens & Northern had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 9.54%. Analysts expect that Citizens & Northern will post 2.17 EPS for the current year.

Citizens & Northern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Citizens & Northern’s payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CZNC. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens & Northern during the first quarter worth $236,000. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in Citizens & Northern in the 1st quarter valued at $324,000. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in Citizens & Northern by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 22,685 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after purchasing an additional 1,592 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Citizens & Northern by 105.3% in the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 57,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,096,000 after purchasing an additional 29,687 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Citizens & Northern in the 2nd quarter worth $58,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.83% of the company’s stock.

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.