Traders Buy High Volume of Citizens Put Options (NYSE:CIA)

Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Traders bought 11,186 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 1,728% compared to the typical volume of 612 put options.

Citizens Stock Performance

NYSE:CIA opened at $4.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $227.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.61 and a beta of 0.11. Citizens has a fifty-two week low of $1.78 and a fifty-two week high of $5.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $4.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.54.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $1,081,000 after purchasing an additional 2,590 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Citizens by 6.7% in the 4th 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 last quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Citizens by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 36,976 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $148,000 after acquiring an additional 3,176 shares during the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its position in Citizens by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 427,347 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $1,714,000 after acquiring an additional 3,235 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com cut shares of 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.