Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Takes Position in Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 29,868 shares of the insurance provider’s stock, valued at approximately $120,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Truffle Hound Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Citizens in the 4th quarter valued at $1,511,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Citizens during the fourth quarter valued at $357,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens in the 4th quarter valued at $319,000. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Citizens by 7,178.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 78,026 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $313,000 after purchasing an additional 76,954 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 683 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Citizens in the 4th quarter worth about $304,000. Institutional investors own 13.73% of the company’s stock.

Citizens Trading Down 1.7%

NYSE:CIA opened at $4.04 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.62 million, a P/E ratio of 9.40 and a beta of 0.44. Citizens, Inc. has a 1 year low of $2.33 and a 1 year high of $5.95. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $4.37 and a 200-day moving average of $4.52.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 13th. The insurance provider reported $0.07 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $63.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $64.66 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Citizens, Inc. will post 0.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Citizens

In related news, CEO Jon Stenberg bought 106,340 shares of Citizens stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $3.89 per share, for a total transaction of $413,662.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 124,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $483,772.07. This trade represents a 590.02% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Citizens from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th.

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.