Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Issues Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.01 EPS

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The financial services provider reported $0.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.01, FiscalAI reports. The company had revenue of $36.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $37.45 million. Investar had a net margin of 17.55% and a return on equity of 11.65%.

Investar Stock Up 1.6%

ISTR opened at $29.19 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $402.24 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.01 and a beta of 0.45. Investar has a fifty-two week low of $22.95 and a fifty-two week high of $31.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95.

Investar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 30th. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 30th. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.75%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on ISTR shares. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Investar in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Wall Street Zen raised Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, September 13th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Investar from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.50.

Investar Company Profile

Investar Holding Corporation is a bank holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through its principal subsidiary, Investar Bank, the company provides community banking services to individuals, businesses and institutions.

Investar Bank offers a range of deposit products, including checking, savings and money market accounts, certificates of deposit and commercial deposit services. Its lending activities include commercial and industrial loans, commercial real estate financing, residential mortgage loans, construction and development lending, and consumer loans.

The bank also provides treasury management, online and mobile banking, cash management and other financial services.