Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Short Interest Up 24.0% in March

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 71,900 shares, an increase of 24.0% from the February 28th total of 58,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 35,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.0 days. Approximately 0.5% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of Citizens & Northern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Citizens & Northern Trading Up 0.8 %

CZNC traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $20.11. 4,673 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 33,641. Citizens & Northern has a 52 week low of $16.50 and a 52 week high of $22.68. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $20.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.90 and a beta of 0.44.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts anticipate that Citizens & Northern will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Citizens & Northern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. 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 5.57%. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Squarepoint Ops LLC boosted 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 valued at $423,000 after purchasing an additional 11,431 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens & Northern by 270.6% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 40,704 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $757,000 after buying an additional 29,722 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG grew its position in shares of Citizens & Northern by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $271,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Citizens & Northern by 13.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Citizens & Northern by 28.7% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 30.83% of the company’s stock.

Citizens & Northern Company Profile

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.