Marshall Wace LLP Acquires 74,662 Shares of Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA)

Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Citizens, Inc. (NYSE:CIA - Free Report) by 350.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,944 shares of the insurance provider's stock after purchasing an additional 74,662 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP owned 0.19% of Citizens worth $385,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truffle Hound Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Citizens in the fourth quarter valued at $1,511,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Citizens in the 4th quarter valued at about $357,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd bought a new position in shares of Citizens in the fourth quarter worth about $319,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Citizens by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 554,894 shares of the insurance provider's stock worth $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 68,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Citizens by 98.4% in the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 103,918 shares of the insurance provider's stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 51,539 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 13.73% of the company's stock.

Citizens Stock Up 4.1 %

Shares of CIA stock opened at $4.24 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $211.36 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.85 and a beta of 0.44. Citizens, Inc. has a 12 month low of $2.06 and a 12 month high of $5.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $4.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $4.58.

Citizens (NYSE:CIA - Get Free Report) last posted 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 return on equity of 11.50% and a net margin of 8.87%. The business had revenue of $63.47 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.66 million. Sell-side analysts predict that Citizens, Inc. will post 0.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Citizens from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th.

Insider Transactions at Citizens

In other news, CEO Jon Stenberg acquired 106,340 shares of Citizens stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 7th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $3.89 per share, with a total value of $413,662.60. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 124,363 shares of the company's stock, valued at $483,772.07. The trade was a 590.02 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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