Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) Short Interest Up 35.6% in March

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 200,957 shares, an increase of 35.6% from the February 26th total of 148,181 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 104,582 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.9 days. Approximately 1.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Investar Price Performance

NASDAQ ISTR traded down $0.19 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.82. 107,324 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 168,571. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $28.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $25.95. Investar has a fifty-two week low of $15.39 and a fifty-two week high of $31.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.49. The company has a market cap of $368.78 million, a PE ratio of 12.53 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Investar Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 30th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.11 per share. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 31st. Investar’s payout ratio is presently 20.56%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Investar news, CEO John J. D’angelo sold 26,163 shares of Investar stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total value of $732,825.63. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 242,750 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,799,427.50. The trade was a 9.73% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 8.81% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Investar

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of ISTR. Fourthstone LLC acquired a new stake in Investar in the second quarter valued at $584,000. Squarepoint Ops LLC acquired a new position in Investar during the 4th quarter worth about $346,000. Integrated Quantitative Investments LLC acquired a new position in Investar during the 4th quarter worth about $324,000. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Investar by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 12,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after buying an additional 2,376 shares during the period. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Investar by 12.8% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Investar from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Investar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.00.

Investar Company Profile

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.