First Eagle Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA)

First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 554,894 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 68,824 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC owned 1.11% of Citizens worth $2,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CIA. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in Citizens by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 46,116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $185,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Citizens by 5.3% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 138,281 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $501,000 after acquiring an additional 6,968 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Citizens by 2.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 458,886 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $1,662,000 after acquiring an additional 10,235 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Citizens by 24.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 52,379 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 10,267 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Citizens in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $82,000. 13.73% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Citizens Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of CIA opened at $4.69 on Monday. Citizens, Inc. has a 12-month low of $1.78 and a 12-month high of $5.95. The company has a market cap of $234.06 million, a PE ratio of 10.91 and a beta of 0.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $4.38.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Singular Research upgraded shares of Citizens to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th.

About Citizens

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.