Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 71,900 shares, a growth of 24.0% from the February 28th total of 58,000 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 35,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.0 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CZNC. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in Citizens & Northern by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after acquiring an additional 1,153 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in Citizens & Northern in the third quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its stake in Citizens & Northern by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 9,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after acquiring an additional 1,900 shares during the period. 30.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Citizens & Northern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Citizens & Northern Stock Performance

CZNC stock opened at $20.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $311.18 million, a PE ratio of 11.91 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $20.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.93. Citizens & Northern has a 1-year low of $16.50 and a 1-year high of $22.68.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by $0.08. Citizens & Northern had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 16.50%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Citizens & Northern will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens & Northern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.57%. This is a positive change from Citizens & Northern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Citizens & Northern’s payout ratio is currently 66.27%.

About Citizens & Northern

Citizens & Northern Corp. is a holding company, which engages in community banking. It provides a full range of banking and mortgage services to individual and corporate customers in North Central Pennsylvania and Southern New York State. The firm’s lending products include mortgage loans, commercial loans, and consumer loans.