Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold”

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Zacks Research cut Investar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Investar in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. One investment 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 has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.50.

Investar Stock Down 3.9%

ISTR opened at $28.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $386.39 million, a PE ratio of 9.83 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. Investar has a 1-year low of $22.95 and a 1-year high of $31.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.31.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.01. Investar had a return on equity of 12.62% and a net margin of 18.81%. The firm had revenue of $36.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.45 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Investar will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Investar

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of ISTR. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in Investar during the second quarter worth about $38,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its position in Investar by 63.8% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 1,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Investar during the second quarter worth about $210,000. AXQ Capital LP purchased a new position in Investar in the second quarter valued at about $212,000. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Investar during the second quarter worth about $230,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Investar Company Profile

Investar Holding Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through its principal subsidiary, Investar Bank, the company provides community banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions.

Investar Bank offers a range of deposit products, including checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit and commercial deposit services. Its lending activities include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgage loans, construction and development lending, and consumer loans.

The bank also provides treasury management, online and mobile banking, cash management and other financial services.