Investar Holding Corporation (ISTR) To Go Ex-Dividend on June 30th

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.12 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, July 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 30th. This is a 9.1% increase from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.11.

Investar has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 10 years. Investar has a payout ratio of 19.7% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Investar to earn $3.23 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 13.6%.

Investar Stock Up 2.3%

Investar stock opened at $29.84 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.49 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $411.51 million, a P/E ratio of 13.09 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. Investar has a one year low of $18.13 and a one year high of $31.77.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.18. Investar had a net margin of 16.53% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $35.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Investar will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

ISTR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings upgraded Investar from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Zacks Research cut Investar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Piper Sandler reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $31.50 price target on shares of Investar in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Investar has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

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.