Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Short Interest Update

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant 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 daily 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.

Citizens & Northern Trading Down 0.7 %

Citizens & Northern stock traded down $0.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $19.08. The company's stock had a trading volume of 38,937 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,799. The stock's fifty day moving average is $20.82 and its 200 day moving average is $19.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Citizens & Northern has a 1-year low of $16.50 and a 1-year high of $22.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $295.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.29 and a beta of 0.40.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Citizens & Northern will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

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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 issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from Citizens & Northern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Citizens & Northern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Institutional Trading of Citizens & Northern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CZNC. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Citizens & Northern by 270.6% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 40,704 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $757,000 after purchasing an additional 29,722 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Citizens & Northern by 117.5% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 52,275 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $972,000 after acquiring an additional 28,243 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Citizens & Northern in the 4th quarter worth $429,000. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new position in shares of Citizens & Northern in the fourth quarter worth about $382,000. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Citizens & Northern by 290.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 19,388 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $381,000 after buying an additional 14,418 shares during the last quarter. 30.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.