Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Citizens Put Options (NYSE:CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders purchased 11,186 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,728% compared to the typical volume of 612 put options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut Citizens from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, March 27th.

Citizens Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CIA opened at $4.81 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $4.95 and a 200-day moving average of $4.55. Citizens has a twelve month low of $1.78 and a twelve month high of $5.95. The firm has a market cap of $240.05 million, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.11.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, March 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.03). Citizens had a net margin of 8.87% and a return on equity of 11.50%. The company had revenue of $63.47 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.66 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Citizens will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in Citizens in the 3rd quarter valued at $82,000. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in Citizens by 24.4% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,379 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $189,000 after acquiring an additional 10,267 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Citizens by 2.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 458,886 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,662,000 after purchasing an additional 10,235 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in Citizens by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 46,116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 145,316 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $583,000 after purchasing an additional 7,035 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Company Profile

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.