Short Interest in Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Declines By 14.3%

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 58,000 shares, a decrease of 14.3% from the February 13th total of 67,700 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 37,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.6 days. Approximately 0.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Citizens & Northern Stock Up 1.8 %

Citizens & Northern stock traded up $0.36 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $20.80. The company had a trading volume of 13,587 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,140. The stock has a market cap of $321.75 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.44. Citizens & Northern has a 1 year low of $16.50 and a 1 year high of $22.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $20.49 and a 200 day moving average of $19.85.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.08. Citizens & Northern had a net margin of 16.50% and a return on equity of 9.71%. 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from Citizens & Northern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.38%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Citizens & Northern

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Squarepoint Ops LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens & Northern by 101.3% during the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $423,000 after acquiring an additional 11,431 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its position in shares of Citizens & Northern by 270.6% during the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 40,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $757,000 after acquiring an additional 29,722 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position 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 worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Citizens & Northern by 13.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $413,000 after acquiring an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position 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 acquiring an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. 30.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CZNC. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Citizens & Northern to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Citizens & Northern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th.

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.