Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Short Interest Up 15.4% in June

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 38,200 shares, a growth of 15.4% from the May 31st total of 33,100 shares. Approximately 0.5% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 27,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ISTR. StockNews.com raised Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th. Hovde Group lowered their price objective on Investar from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Investar Price Performance

ISTR stock opened at $15.40 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $15.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $16.02. Investar has a 12-month low of $9.07 and a 12-month high of $17.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The company has a market cap of $151.38 million, a PE ratio of 8.60 and a beta of 0.78.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $19.96 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $18.78 million. Investar had a return on equity of 8.17% and a net margin of 12.02%. As a group, research analysts predict that Investar will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Investar Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Investar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.35%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in shares of Investar during the fourth quarter worth about $55,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Investar during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $185,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. bought a new stake in shares of Investar in the fourth quarter worth $180,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Investar in the third quarter valued at $149,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in Investar by 24.8% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 23,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 4,614 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

About Investar

Investar Holding Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Investar Bank that provides a range of commercial banking products to individuals, professionals, and small to medium-sized businesses in south Louisiana, southeast Texas, and Alabama in the United States. The company offers various deposit products and services, such as savings, checking, money market, and individual retirement accounts, as well as various certificates of deposit; debit and credit cards; internet, mobile, and video banking services; and reciprocal deposit products.