Investors Purchase Large Volume of Citizens Put Options (NYSE:CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) was the target of some unusual 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 typical volume of 612 put options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CIA. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Citizens by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 269,581 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,081,000 after buying an additional 2,590 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Citizens by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 46,116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $185,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 3,176 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Citizens by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 427,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,714,000 after purchasing an additional 3,235 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Citizens by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 106,327 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 5,696 shares during the last quarter. 13.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Citizens Price Performance

Shares of CIA stock opened at $4.81 on Thursday. Citizens has a one year low of $1.78 and a one year high of $5.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.55. The stock has a market cap of $240.05 million, a P/E ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 0.11.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Citizens Company Profile

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.