Investar Holding Co. (ISTR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.11 on January 31st

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, December 19th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of 0.105 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, January 31st. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st.

Investar has raised its dividend by an average of 16.5% per year over the last three years. Investar has a payout ratio of 21.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Investar to earn $1.83 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 23.0%.

Investar Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ISTR opened at $22.36 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $19.04. Investar has a 52 week low of $14.50 and a 52 week high of $24.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a market cap of $219.75 million, a PE ratio of 12.49 and a beta of 0.79.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by $0.12. Investar had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 11.35%. The company had revenue of $40.39 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.07 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Investar will post 1.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Investar

In other news, Director Scott G. Ginn acquired 8,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were purchased at an average price of $23.68 per share, for a total transaction of $200,688.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 8,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $200,688. This represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 8.73% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com cut Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

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.