Dallas, Texas 03/18/2014 (FINANCIALSTRENDS) – CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS), a finance company, has been upgraded from an “underperform” rating to “neutral” rating by Zacks. Analysts at Zacks have given a $8.80 price target on the company’s stock. In addition, Deutsche Bank analysts downgraded CYS Investments’ shares to a “hold” rating from a “buy” rating, issuing a $8.75 price target on the company’s stock. According to Deutsche Bank, the move (downgrade) was a valuation call.
Two investment analysts have issued a “sell” rating, seven have given a “hold” rating, and four have assigned a “buy” rating to CYS Investments Inc (NYSE:CYS). Currently, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $11.07.
On March 10, 2014, CYS Investments (NYSE:CYS) announced a quarterly dividend of $0.32 per share to shareholders of record on March 25th. The dividend will be paid on April 17, 2014. This represents a $1.28 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 14.94 percent.
Last, the company announced its fourth quarter and full-year of 2013 earnings results in February. It reported a net loss of $97.1 million during the fourth quarter, or $0.59 per diluted share, compared to net income of $25.4 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, in the third quarter of 2013.
The company stated, “The year ended December 31, 2013 was challenging for fixed income investors, especially those that utilize leverage. The strengthening U.S. economy prompted market participants to anticipate changes in policies of the U.S. Federal Reserve. Given this uncertainty, the Company expects interest rate volatility to remain elevated. Importantly, the higher rate environment has created an improved investing environment, which should allow the Company to generate an attractive dividend while operating at the low end of its leverage range, which should reduce volatility in the Company’s net asset value. Nevertheless, the Company expects the interest rate environment and its net asset value to remain volatile.”
“The volatility in rates has caused the Company’s common stock to trade at a meaningful discount to its net asset value. The Company sees this as an opportunity to repurchase stock accretively to its stockholders.”
