Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Short Interest Up 13.1% in June

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 79,300 shares, an increase of 13.1% from the May 31st total of 70,100 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 21,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Citizens & Northern Price Performance

CZNC stock traded down $0.15 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $17.23. The company had a trading volume of 19,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 24,749. The company has a market capitalization of $265.00 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.43 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $18.73. Citizens & Northern has a 1-year low of $16.50 and a 1-year high of $23.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.34 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $25.72 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $26.74 million. Citizens & Northern had a return on equity of 9.17% and a net margin of 16.20%. Equities research analysts expect that Citizens & Northern will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Citizens & Northern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 6th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 6.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 3rd. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Terry L. Lehman acquired 1,500 shares of Citizens & Northern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $17.00 per share, with a total value of $25,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 25,567 shares in the company, valued at approximately $434,639. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders purchased a total of 2,457 shares of company stock valued at $42,527 over the last ninety days. 3.95% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 5,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 82.6% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $143,000 after acquiring an additional 3,440 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 20.9% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $183,000 after acquiring an additional 1,409 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Citizens & Northern during the fourth quarter worth about $213,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 742,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,941,000 after acquiring an additional 13,488 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 30.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CZNC shares. TheStreet downgraded Citizens & Northern from a “b-” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. StockNews.com raised Citizens & Northern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 29th.

About Citizens & Northern

Citizens & Northern Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Citizens & Northern Bank that provides various banking and related services to individual and corporate customers. Its deposit products include various types of checking accounts, passbook and statement savings, money market accounts, interest checking accounts, and individual retirement accounts, as well as certificates of deposit; and lending products, including commercial, mortgage, and consumer loans, as well as specialized instruments, such as commercial letters-of-credit.