Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.11

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, March 20th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.105 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st.

Investar has raised its dividend by an average of 9.8% annually over the last three years. Investar has a dividend payout ratio of 18.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Investar to earn $2.36 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 17.8%.

Investar Stock Performance

NASDAQ:ISTR opened at $17.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $18.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $20.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.21 million, a PE ratio of 8.69 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Investar has a twelve month low of $14.60 and a twelve month high of $24.81.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.26. Investar had a net margin of 12.81% and a return on equity of 8.00%. On average, analysts anticipate that Investar will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

ISTR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Piper Sandler assumed coverage on Investar in a research note on Friday, February 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $21.00 price objective for the company.

Investar Company Profile

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.