Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens (NYSE:CIA) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report issued on Tuesday morning.

Separately, Singular Research upgraded Citizens to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 18th.

Citizens Stock Performance

NYSE:CIA opened at $5.28 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $263.66 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.11. Citizens has a one year low of $1.78 and a one year high of $5.95. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $4.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $4.42.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.07 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $63.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.66 million. Citizens had a return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 8.87%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Citizens will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Citizens by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 3,176 shares during the period. Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in Citizens in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp acquired a new position in Citizens in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Citizens by 49.2% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 202,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after acquiring an additional 66,718 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Citizens by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 427,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 3,235 shares during the period. 13.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.