Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) Increases Dividend to $0.11 Per Share

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, June 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of 0.11 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. This is a 4.8% increase from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11.

Investar has a payout ratio of 18.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Investar to earn $2.36 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.8%.

Investar Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ ISTR opened at $18.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $180.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.36 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.10. Investar has a one year low of $14.60 and a one year high of $24.81.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.29. Investar had a net margin of 13.99% and a return on equity of 8.60%. The business had revenue of $20.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.90 million. Equities analysts forecast that Investar will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Investar stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) by 7.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,905 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.59% of Investar worth $1,022,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 50.17% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on ISTR shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 17th. Piper Sandler raised shares of Investar from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $21.00 to $22.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

About Investar

Investar Holding Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Investar Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in south Louisiana, southeast Texas, and Alabama in the United States. The company offers various deposit products and services, such as savings, checking, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as various certificates of deposit; debit and credit cards; internet, mobile, and video banking services; and reciprocal deposit products.