Citizens, Inc. $CIA Shares Sold by UBS Group AG

UBS Group AG decreased its position in Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) by 12.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 768,187 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 106,028 shares during the period. UBS Group AG’s holdings in Citizens were worth $3,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIA. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Citizens by 142.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 199,809 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $909,000 after purchasing an additional 117,502 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Citizens by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 157,169 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $715,000 after purchasing an additional 11,853 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens by 133.6% during the 1st quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 169,308 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $770,000 after acquiring an additional 96,836 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens by 118.0% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,032,234 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,603,000 after acquiring an additional 558,840 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund acquired a new position in shares of Citizens during the 2nd quarter valued at about $101,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Citizens from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, March 29th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Citizens from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold”.

Insider Transactions at Citizens

In other Citizens news, CEO Jon Stenberg bought 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $4.81 per share, with a total value of $48,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 208,930 shares in the company, valued at $1,004,953.30. This trade represents a 5.03% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Stock Performance

CIA opened at $4.94 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.38. The company has a market cap of $248.63 million, a PE ratio of 14.12 and a beta of 0.50. Citizens, Inc. has a 1 year low of $3.24 and a 1 year high of $6.40.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The insurance provider reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.08 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $70.19 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.89 million. Citizens had a net margin of 7.12% and a return on equity of 7.21%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Citizens, Inc. will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

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.