City (NASDAQ:CHCO) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of City (NASDAQ:CHCO) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on CHCO. Hovde Group increased their target price on City from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on City from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut City from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of City from $128.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.25.

City Stock Performance

NASDAQ CHCO opened at $125.03 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a PE ratio of 15.05 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $125.44 and a 200-day moving average of $120.87. City has a 52-week low of $102.22 and a 52-week high of $137.28.

City (NASDAQ:CHCO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.32. The firm had revenue of $78.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $76.10 million. City had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 16.30%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that City will post 7.58 EPS for the current year.

City Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.87 per share. This is an increase from City’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, October 15th. This represents a $3.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. City’s payout ratio is currently 38.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Michael T. Quinlan, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.12, for a total value of $131,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 1,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $239,949.60. The trade was a 35.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey Dale Legge sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.06, for a total transaction of $327,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 7,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $922,269.22. This represents a 26.21% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 305 shares of company stock worth $38,750 in the last 90 days. 1.87% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of City

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in City by 24.3% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 631,584 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,192,000 after purchasing an additional 123,394 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of City in the 1st quarter valued at $4,883,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of City by 13,747.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,943 shares of the bank’s stock worth $4,457,000 after buying an additional 37,669 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of City by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,057 shares of the bank’s stock worth $68,139,000 after buying an additional 29,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC acquired a new stake in City in the second quarter valued at about $2,249,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.43% of the company’s stock.

City Company Profile

City Holding Company operates as a holding company for City National Bank of West Virginia that provides various banking, trust, and investment management, and other financial solutions in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.