Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) Short Interest Update

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 232,896 shares, a decrease of 17.6% from the March 31st total of 282,792 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 134,261 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days. Approximately 1.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Investar

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in Investar by 7.2% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 58,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 3,905 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Investar by 1.2% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 230,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its position in Investar by 12.8% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Investar by 6.9% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 58,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,128,000 after purchasing an additional 3,757 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its position in Investar by 46.9% in the second quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 17,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $347,000 after purchasing an additional 5,738 shares during the last quarter. 50.17% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Investar Stock Performance

Shares of Investar stock traded up $0.51 during trading on Friday, hitting $28.22. 152,081 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 177,830. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.92. Investar has a 1 year low of $17.89 and a 1 year high of $31.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $387.74 million, a P/E ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $26.75.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.18. Investar had a return on equity of 11.83% and a net margin of 16.53%.The company had revenue of $53.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.40 million. As a group, analysts forecast that Investar will post 3.07 EPS for the current year.

Investar Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.11 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 31st. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.30%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings cut Investar from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Investar from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.50 target price on shares of Investar in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut Investar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.50.

Investar Company Profile

Investar Holdings, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, operating through its primary subsidiary, Investar Bank. The company delivers commercial and consumer banking products across southeastern Louisiana and into select Texas markets, focusing on relationship-driven service. Investar Bank’s offerings include deposit accounts, lending solutions, online and mobile banking, and treasury management services.

Its lending portfolio encompasses commercial real estate financing, construction and development loans, commercial and industrial credits, agricultural loans, and residential mortgage originations.