Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 58,000 shares, a decrease of 14.3% from the February 13th total of 67,700 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 37,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Citizens & Northern Price Performance

CZNC opened at $20.80 on Thursday. Citizens & Northern has a 12-month low of $16.50 and a 12-month high of $22.68. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $19.86. The company has a market capitalization of $321.69 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77.

Citizens & Northern (NASDAQ:CZNC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 research 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. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.38%. This is an increase from Citizens & Northern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. Citizens & Northern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler raised Citizens & Northern to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded Citizens & Northern from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Citizens & Northern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 101.3% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,719 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after buying an additional 11,431 shares during the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 270.6% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 14,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $271,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after buying an additional 2,577 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in Citizens & Northern by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. 30.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Citizens & Northern

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.