Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Short Interest Down 9.8% in March

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 35,900 shares, a decrease of 9.8% from the March 15th total of 39,800 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 23,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.5 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Investar Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of ISTR opened at $15.68 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.21 and its 200 day simple moving average is $14.11. The company has a market capitalization of $153.35 million, a P/E ratio of 9.28 and a beta of 0.77. Investar has a 1-year low of $9.07 and a 1-year high of $17.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.96.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.39 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by $0.14. The business had revenue of $20.25 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.84 million. Investar had a net margin of 11.94% and a return on equity of 8.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Investar will post 1.32 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 1st will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 28th. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Investar’s payout ratio is currently 23.67%.

Institutional Trading of Investar

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. UBS Group AG bought a new position in Investar in the third quarter worth about $31,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Investar by 79.1% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 2,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 1,131 shares in the last quarter. AJOVista LLC purchased a new position in shares of Investar in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Citigroup Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Investar during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Investar by 23.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 13,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,000 after purchasing an additional 2,461 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

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.