City (NASDAQ:CHCO) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Sell

Key Points

• City Holding Company was downgraded from a "hold" to a "sell" rating by Wall Street Zen, reflecting concerns among equities analysts about the stock's performance.
• Despite the downgrade, several analysts raised their price targets for City shares, with a consensus average target of $133.25.
• City's stock has demonstrated considerable volatility, trading between a 52-week low of $102.22 and a high of $137.28.

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of City (NASDAQ:CHCO - Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Saturday morning.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Hovde Group boosted their price objective on City from $130.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target 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, DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of City from $128.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $133.25.

City Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CHCO traded down $1.27 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $119.03. 82,977 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 83,397. City has a fifty-two week low of $102.22 and a fifty-two week high of $137.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.20, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.32 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $122.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $119.04.

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

City Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 15th were paid a $0.79 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. This represents a $3.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. City's payout ratio is 38.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of City

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased its position in City by 24.3% during the first quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 631,584 shares of the bank's stock worth $74,192,000 after acquiring an additional 123,394 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in City during the first quarter worth $4,883,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in City by 13,747.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 37,943 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,457,000 after acquiring an additional 37,669 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in City by 5.3% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 580,057 shares of the bank's stock worth $68,139,000 after acquiring an additional 29,302 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Investment Corp ET AL increased its position in City by 117.1% during the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 42,159 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,995,000 after acquiring an additional 22,741 shares during the period. 72.43% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About City

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.