StockNews.com Downgrades Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) to Sell

StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning.

Separately, TheStreet cut Citizens & Northern from a b- rating to a c+ rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th.

Citizens & Northern Stock Up 0.5 %

CZNC stock opened at $17.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $17.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.36. Citizens & Northern has a 52 week low of $16.71 and a 52 week high of $23.50. The company has a market cap of $272.07 million, a P/E ratio of 11.64 and a beta of 0.44.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last posted its earnings results on Monday, March 11th. The financial services provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by ($0.08). Citizens & Northern had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 16.20%. The firm had revenue of $25.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $26.39 million. On average, research analysts expect that Citizens & Northern will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens & Northern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens & Northern

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Citizens & Northern by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 742,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,941,000 after buying an additional 13,488 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 33.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 19,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 4,914 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Citizens & Northern in the 4th quarter valued at about $213,000. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Citizens & Northern by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in Citizens & Northern by 82.6% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 3,440 shares during the period. 30.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Citizens & Northern

Citizens & Northern Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Citizens & Northern Bank that provides various banking and related services to individual and corporate customers. Its deposit products include various types of checking accounts, passbook and statement savings, money market accounts, interest checking accounts, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and lending products, including commercial, mortgage, and consumer loans, as well as specialized instruments, such as commercial letters-of-credit.