Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Cision (NYSE:CISN) to Sector Perform

Cision (NYSE:CISN) was downgraded by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, October 23rd, The Fly reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on CISN. Cowen set a $14.00 price objective on shares of Cision and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Citigroup lowered shares of Cision from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Cision from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Robert W. Baird lowered shares of Cision from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $13.00 to $10.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, William Blair lowered shares of Cision from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $11.20.

CISN traded down $0.03 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $10.20. 1,063,790 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,068,556. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 0.87. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.95 and its 200 day moving average is $9.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.76. Cision has a 12 month low of $6.02 and a 12 month high of $14.55.

Cision (NYSE:CISN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Zacks’ consensus estimate of $0.18 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $185.65 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $189.64 million. Cision had a negative net margin of 0.70% and a positive return on equity of 25.62%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Cision will post 0.77 EPS for the current year.

In other Cision news, insider Rainer Mathes sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $10.11, for a total value of $252,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 1,613,705 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,314,557.55. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 4.80% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CISN. Bailard Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cision during the 2nd quarter worth $399,000. Los Angeles Capital Management & Equity Research Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cision during the 2nd quarter worth $119,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its holdings in shares of Cision by 290.5% during the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 6,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 4,624 shares during the last quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp raised its position in Cision by 154.5% in the 2nd quarter. Dupont Capital Management Corp now owns 71,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 43,322 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Cision by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 8,612,175 shares of the company’s stock worth $101,021,000 after purchasing an additional 505,628 shares during the period. 54.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Cision Company Profile

Cision Ltd. provides public relations (PR) software, media distribution, media intelligence, and related professional services to businesses worldwide. The company enables public relations and communications professionals to manage, execute, and measure their strategic PR and communications programs.