Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) Downgraded to “Hold” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Friday morning.

Separately, Piper Sandler upgraded Citizens & Northern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd.

Citizens & Northern Trading Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ CZNC opened at $21.35 on Friday. Citizens & Northern has a 12 month low of $16.50 and a 12 month high of $22.68. The company has a market capitalization of $329.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.63 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $20.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.78.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. Citizens & Northern had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 16.50%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Citizens & Northern will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens & Northern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.25%. This is a boost from Citizens & Northern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens & Northern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Citizens & Northern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $37,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Citizens & Northern by 28.7% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 22.3% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 6,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its position in Citizens & Northern by 24.6% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 9,634 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $179,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Citizens & Northern by 33.1% in the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 10,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 2,512 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.83% of the company’s stock.

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.