Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) Declares $0.11 Quarterly Dividend

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 19th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.11 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, April 30th. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st.

Investar has increased its dividend payment 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. Analysts expect Investar to earn $2.36 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 18.6%.

Investar Stock Performance

Investar stock opened at $26.89 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $263.79 million, a PE ratio of 12.57 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.75. Investar has a fifty-two week low of $15.39 and a fifty-two week high of $31.77.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.54 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $23.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.35 million. Investar had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 14.92%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Investar will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ISTR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings downgraded Investar from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research raised shares of Investar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.00.

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.