Citizens Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 3,000 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 126% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,328 put options.

Citizens Trading Up 6.2%

Shares of CIA opened at $3.95 on Thursday. Citizens has a 52 week low of $3.56 and a 52 week high of $6.54. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $5.30 and a 200-day moving average of $5.33. The firm has a market cap of $198.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81 and a beta of 0.48.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The insurance provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.07 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $61.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.85 million. Citizens had a return on equity of 4.73% and a net margin of 4.55%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Citizens will post 0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jon Stenberg bought 12,000 shares of Citizens stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $3.65 per share, with a total value of $43,800.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 389,574 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,421,945.10. This trade represents a 3.18% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 2.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Citizens

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 3,686.7% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 14,541 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 14,157 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Citizens by 92.1% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 5,141 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. bought a new stake in Citizens during the third quarter worth approximately $57,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Citizens in the second quarter worth approximately $63,000. Finally, Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Citizens during the 4th quarter valued at $84,000. 13.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Citizens from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Citizens Company Profile

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.