Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Upgraded to “Strong-Buy” at Zacks Research

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) was upgraded by investment analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other equities analysts also recently weighed in on ISTR. Piper Sandler reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $31.50 price target on shares of Investar in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen raised Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Investar from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $31.50.

Investar Stock Performance

ISTR stock opened at $28.97 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.40, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $399.50 million, a P/E ratio of 12.71 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.26. Investar has a 52 week low of $20.99 and a 52 week high of $31.77.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 20th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.18. Investar had a net margin of 16.53% and a return on equity of 10.62%. The firm had revenue of $35.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $36.40 million. Research analysts anticipate that Investar will post 3.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Investar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ISTR. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Investar by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares during the last quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Investar by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC now owns 46,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,241,000 after purchasing an additional 443 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Investar by 24.9% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 666 shares during the period. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Investar by 0.6% during the second quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 139,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 763 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in Investar by 69.1% during the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

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.