Royce & Associates LP Cuts Holdings in Investar Holding Corporation $ISTR

Royce & Associates LP lessened its stake in Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 295,834 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,378 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 3.02% of Investar worth $7,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Investar by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 431,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,010,000 after buying an additional 17,015 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Investar by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 391,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,092,000 after buying an additional 8,856 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Investar by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 230,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,639 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Investar by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 139,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Investar by 63.6% in the 3rd quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 135,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,148,000 after purchasing an additional 52,744 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on ISTR. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Investar from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.50 price objective on shares of Investar in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Zacks Research cut shares of Investar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.50.

Investar Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of ISTR opened at $28.28 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $389.98 million, a P/E ratio of 12.40 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.41. Investar Holding Corporation has a twelve month low of $17.89 and a twelve month high of $31.77.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $35.64 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $36.40 million. Investar had a net margin of 16.53% and a return on equity of 10.62%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Investar Holding Corporation will post 3.1 EPS for the current year.

Investar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders 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 yield of 1.6%. Investar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.30%.

About Investar

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.