Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Now Covered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR – Get Rating) in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Investar Stock Down 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ISTR traded down $0.48 during trading on Thursday, reaching $15.36. 16,885 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,845. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $20.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.82. The firm has a market cap of $152.22 million, a P/E ratio of 4.39 and a beta of 0.47. Investar has a 1-year low of $15.36 and a 1-year high of $23.72. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.00.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $25.96 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $25.88 million. Investar had a net margin of 29.05% and a return on equity of 12.25%. Analysts anticipate that Investar will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Investar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.095 per share. This represents a $0.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 30th. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.86%.

Insider Activity at Investar

In other Investar news, Director Andrew C. Nelson acquired 3,000 shares of Investar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.77 per share, with a total value of $47,310.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 133,360 shares in the company, valued at $2,103,087.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Investar news, Director Andrew C. Nelson acquired 3,000 shares of Investar stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 15th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $15.77 per share, with a total value of $47,310.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 133,360 shares in the company, valued at $2,103,087.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert Chris Jordan sold 2,477 shares of Investar stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $20.46, for a total transaction of $50,679.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 47,047 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $962,581.62. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 3,942 shares of company stock valued at $62,743. Insiders own 10.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Fourthstone LLC lifted its position in Investar by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. Fourthstone LLC now owns 967,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,465,000 after acquiring an additional 160,309 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Investar by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 255,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,529 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Investar by 19.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 189,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,614,000 after acquiring an additional 30,477 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Investar by 27.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 118,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,562,000 after acquiring an additional 25,725 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in Investar by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 66,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,453,000 after acquiring an additional 6,696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 58.66% of the company’s stock.

About Investar

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Investar Holding Corp. is a financial holding company, which engages in the provision of full banking services. It offers a full range of commercial and retail lending products throughout its market areas, including business loans to small to medium-sized businesses as well as loans to individuals. Its lending products consists of owner-occupied commercial real estate loans, construction loans and commercial and industrial loans, such as term loans, equipment financing and lines of credit, while its loans to individuals include first and second mortgage loans, installment loans, and lines of credit.