Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Citizens Financial Services from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold”.

Citizens Financial Services Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CZFS opened at $57.05 on Tuesday. Citizens Financial Services has a twelve month low of $49.96 and a twelve month high of $74.65. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $58.87. The company has a market capitalization of $274.41 million, a PE ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Citizens Financial Services (NASDAQ:CZFS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.14. Citizens Financial Services had a net margin of 18.54% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The business had revenue of $27.28 million during the quarter. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Citizens Financial Services will post 6.4 EPS for the current year.

Citizens Financial Services Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 26th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 12th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Citizens Financial Services’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 12th. Citizens Financial Services’s dividend payout ratio is 30.17%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 39.4% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 9.7% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,613 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Citizens Financial Services by 1.4% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 28,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,664,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Hudock Inc. boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Services by 1.2% during the second quarter. Hudock Inc. now owns 41,118 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,414,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stone House Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Citizens Financial Services by 82.0% during the second quarter. Stone House Investment Management LLC now owns 1,176 shares of the company’s stock worth $69,000 after purchasing an additional 530 shares during the last quarter. 22.49% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citizens Financial Services Company Profile

Citizens Financial Services, Inc, a bank holding company, provides various banking products and services for individual, business, governmental, and institutional customers. The company accepts various deposit products, such as checking, savings, and time deposit accounts. Its loan products include residential, commercial, and agricultural real estate loans; commercial and industrial loans; state and political subdivision loans; and consumer loans, as well as various other specialized financial services.