Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Citizens Stock Performance

CIA stock opened at $4.67 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $4.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.50. Citizens has a 52-week low of $1.78 and a 52-week high of $5.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $233.22 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 0.11.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.03). Citizens had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 11.50%. The company had revenue of $63.47 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $64.66 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CIA. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 554,894 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after acquiring an additional 68,824 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 458,886 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after buying an additional 10,235 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 427,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 3,235 shares during the period. Truffle Hound Capital LLC bought a new position in Citizens in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,511,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Citizens by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 269,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after acquiring an additional 2,590 shares during the last quarter. 13.73% of the stock is 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.