Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) Cut to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report report published on Sunday,Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CZNC. Weiss Ratings upgraded Citizens & Northern from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised Citizens & Northern from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Citizens & Northern Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CZNC opened at $25.69 on Friday. Citizens & Northern has a 12-month low of $18.87 and a 12-month high of $26.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $460.62 million, a PE ratio of 13.80 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $25.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.75.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, August 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $39.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.60 million. Citizens & Northern had a net margin of 13.28% and a return on equity of 9.54%. Research analysts anticipate that Citizens & Northern will post 2.17 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens & Northern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens & Northern

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CZNC. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in shares of Citizens & Northern in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,685,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 620,287 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,857,000 after acquiring an additional 16,030 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in shares of Citizens & Northern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,859,000. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC acquired a new position in shares of Citizens & Northern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,498,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Citizens & Northern by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 53,441 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,194,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. 30.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Citizens & Northern

Citizens & Northern Corporation is a bank holding company for Citizens & Northern Bank, a community banking institution headquartered in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, the bank serves individuals, families, farmers, businesses and organizations through a network of offices in north-central Pennsylvania and southern New York.

Citizens & Northern Bank offers a range of traditional banking products, including checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, consumer loans, residential mortgages, commercial loans and agricultural lending.