Citizens (NYSE:CIA) Stock Crosses Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA)’s share price crossed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Thursday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of $4.75 and traded as high as $5.44. Citizens shares last traded at $5.35, with a volume of 46,828 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on CIA shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Citizens in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Citizens from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat, Citizens has an average rating of “Hold”.

Citizens Stock Up 0.9%

The company has a market capitalization of $268.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.48 and a beta of 0.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $5.62 and its 200-day moving average is $4.75.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The insurance provider reported $0.07 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.06 by $0.01. Citizens had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 6.54%. The firm had revenue of $64.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.46 million. As a group, analysts expect that Citizens, Inc. will post 0.32 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Citizens

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey purchased a new position in shares of Citizens during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of Citizens by 3,686.7% during 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 during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Citizens by 92.1% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,724 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after acquiring an additional 5,141 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Citizens in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new position in shares of Citizens in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,000. 13.73% of the stock is 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.