City (NASDAQ:CHCO) Cut to "Hold" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded City (NASDAQ: CHCO) from a "strong-buy" to a "hold" rating, affecting investor sentiment.
• Multiple research firms have adjusted their price targets for City, with Hovde Group setting a target of $136.00 and DA Davidson at $137.00.
• City reported a net margin of 31.35% and earnings of $2.29 per share for the last quarter, which surpassed analyst expectations by $0.32.

City (NASDAQ:CHCO - Get Free Report) was downgraded by Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CHCO. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of City from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of City from $128.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of City from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of City from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $133.25.

City Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of City stock opened at $123.20 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $1.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.83 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a fifty day moving average of $125.45 and a 200 day moving average of $120.79. City has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $137.28.

City (NASDAQ:CHCO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The bank reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.32. City had a net margin of 31.35% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The company had revenue of $78.16 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.10 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that City will post 7.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Michael T. Quinlan, Jr. sold 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.12, for a total transaction of $131,120.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 1,830 shares in the company, valued at approximately $239,949.60. This represents a 35.34% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Jeffrey Dale Legge sold 2,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $131.06, for a total transaction of $327,650.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 7,037 shares in the company, valued at $922,269.22. This represents a 26.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 305 shares of company stock worth $38,750 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.87% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of City

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. raised its position in City by 24.3% in the 1st quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 631,584 shares of the bank's stock worth $74,192,000 after purchasing an additional 123,394 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in City in the 1st quarter worth about $4,883,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in City by 13,747.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,943 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,457,000 after purchasing an additional 37,669 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in City by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,057 shares of the bank's stock worth $68,139,000 after purchasing an additional 29,302 shares during the period. Finally, TrueMark Investments LLC purchased a new stake in City in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,249,000. 72.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

City Company Profile

City Holding Company operates as a holding company for City National Bank of West Virginia that provides various banking, trust, and investment management, and other financial solutions in the United States. The company offers checking, savings, and money market accounts, as well as certificates of deposit and individual retirement accounts.

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