Citizens Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 11,186 put options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 1,728% compared to the average daily volume of 612 put options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Citizens Price Performance

Shares of Citizens stock opened at $4.56 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $4.95 and its 200 day moving average is $4.54. Citizens has a one year low of $1.78 and a one year high of $5.95. The firm has a market cap of $227.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.11.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in Citizens during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new stake in Citizens during the fourth quarter worth about $63,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $82,000. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new stake in Citizens in the fourth quarter worth $92,000. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Citizens in the fourth quarter valued at $120,000. 13.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.