Hovde Group Trims Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Target Price to $20.00

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) had its price objective cut by Hovde Group from $20.50 to $20.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Investar Stock Up 0.2 %

ISTR stock opened at $16.26 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $159.02 million, a P/E ratio of 9.08 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $16.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $14.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. Investar has a 52 week low of $9.07 and a 52 week high of $17.99.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.14. Investar had a net margin of 12.02% and a return on equity of 8.25%. The business had revenue of $20.25 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.84 million. Equities analysts forecast that Investar will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Investar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.35%.

Institutional Trading of Investar

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ISTR. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in shares of Investar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $55,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. acquired a new position in shares of Investar in the 4th quarter worth approximately $180,000. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Investar by 23.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 13,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,000 after acquiring an additional 2,461 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Investar in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Investar by 231.7% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 40,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 28,266 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.