Short Interest in Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) Declines By 14.3%

Citizens & Northern Co. (NASDAQ:CZNC) experienced a notable reduction in short interest throughout February. As of February 28th, total short interest stood at 58,000 shares, reflecting a decrease of 14.3% from the recorded total of 67,700 shares on February 13th. Currently, about 0.4% of the company's outstanding shares are sold short. With an average trading volume of 37,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is now at 1.6 days.

Recent Trading Performance

During trading hours on Wednesday, shares of Citizens & Northern Co. increased by 1.8%, rising $0.36 to reach a price of $20.80. The trading volume for this session was 13,587 shares, which is lower than the average volume of 26,140 shares. Over the past 50 days, the stock has maintained a moving average of $20.49, and over 200 days, it averages $19.85. The company's stock has seen a low of $16.50 and a high of $22.68 over the past year. The market capitalization for Citizens & Northern is currently $321.75 million, with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 12.31, and a beta value of 0.44.

Earnings Report Highlights

Citizens & Northern Co. recently released its earnings results on January 23rd. The company reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.53 for the quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.45 by $0.08. The financial services provider has reported a net margin of 16.5% and a return on equity of 9.71%. Analysts predict that Citizens & Northern will achieve an EPS of 1.91 for the current fiscal year.

Dividend Announcement

In addition, the company declared a quarterly dividend recently, which was distributed on February 14th. Shareholders who were on record as of February 3rd received a dividend of $0.28 per share, marking an annualized dividend of $1.12 and generating a dividend yield of 5.38%. The dividend payout ratio for Citizens & Northern is currently 66.27%, an increase from the previous quarterly dividend of $0.27.

Analyst Insights

Citizens & Northern has been discussed in various analyst reports recently. Piper Sandler upgraded the stock to a "hold" rating on December 2nd. However, StockNews.com adjusted their rating from “buy” to “hold” on February 28th, indicating mixed sentiments among analysts.

Institutional Holdings

Several hedge funds have altered their positions with Citizens & Northern. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake by 1.5% to now hold 558,315 shares worth $10,385,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings by 1.2% to 345,823 shares valued at $6,811,000. Citizens & Northern Corp similarly expanded its holdings by 3.2% to 338,687 shares worth $6,300,000. Additionally, State Street Corp and Northern Trust Corp also raised their stakes during recent quarters. Overall, institutional investors now control approximately 30.83% of the company's stock.

Company Overview

Citizens & Northern Corp. functions as a holding company that provides community banking services. The organization offers a broad spectrum of banking and mortgage services to individual and business clients primarily located in North Central Pennsylvania and Southern New York State. The company's lending products encompass residential mortgages, commercial loans, and consumer loans.

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