Citizens Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders acquired 11,186 put options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 1,728% compared to the average volume of 612 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Citizens by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $148,000 after acquiring an additional 3,176 shares during the period. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citizens during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp bought a new position in Citizens in the 4th quarter valued at about $63,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in Citizens by 49.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 202,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $811,000 after buying an additional 66,718 shares during the period. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Citizens by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 427,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,714,000 after buying an additional 3,235 shares in the last quarter. 13.73% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Citizens Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE CIA traded up $0.03 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $4.58. The company had a trading volume of 81,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 88,871. Citizens has a fifty-two week low of $1.78 and a fifty-two week high of $5.95. The firm has a market cap of $228.37 million, a P/E ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 0.11. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $4.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $4.53.

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

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.