Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Raises Dividend to $0.09 Per Share

Posted by on Jun 17th, 2022

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR – Get Rating) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 15th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 30th will be given a dividend of 0.09 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, July 29th. This represents a $0.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 29th. This is a boost from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09.

Investar has increased its dividend payment by an average of 22.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 8 years. Investar has a payout ratio of 12.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Investar to earn $2.77 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.34 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 12.3%.

NASDAQ ISTR opened at $21.60 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $20.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.47. Investar has a 52-week low of $17.08 and a 52-week high of $23.51. The company has a market cap of $222.48 million, a PE ratio of 17.70 and a beta of 0.51.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by $0.13. Investar had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 3.10%. The company had revenue of $27.69 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $22.88 million. On average, analysts forecast that Investar will post 2.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Investar by 4.3% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,901 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Citadel Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Investar during the second quarter worth $361,000. Susquehanna International Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Investar by 54.7% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 23,136 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 8,182 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Investar by 42.6% during the second quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 18,674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 5,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Investar by 6.2% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 28,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,656 shares during the last quarter. 56.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on ISTR shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of Investar in a research report on Sunday, May 29th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. TheStreet raised shares of Investar from a “c” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 3rd.

Investar Company Profile (Get Rating)

Investar Holding Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Investar Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products to individuals and small to medium-sized businesses in South Louisiana. 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 cards; and mobile banking services.

Further Reading

Dividend History for Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR)

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