15,017 Shares in Investar Holding Corporation $ISTR Purchased by Nuveen LLC

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has made a new investment of approximately $264,000 in Investar Holding Corporation, acquiring 15,017 shares of its stock, representing about 0.15% of the company.
• Investar Holding Corporation recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.11 per share, which reflects an annualized yield of 1.9%, indicating positive growth in shareholder returns.
• After reporting an earnings per share of $0.47 for the latest quarter, Investar exceeded analysts' estimates and is projected to post a total of 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 15,017 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $264,000. Nuveen LLC owned 0.15% of Investar as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of ISTR. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Investar by 47.8% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 8,309 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $182,000 after buying an additional 2,688 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Investar by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 341,384 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,497,000 after buying an additional 23,895 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Investar by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 101,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,219,000 after acquiring an additional 3,477 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Investar by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 17,455 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 1,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Investar by 12.7% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 16,137 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $354,000 after buying an additional 1,817 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Investar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 17th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Investar from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.00.

Investar Price Performance

Shares of ISTR stock traded up $0.12 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $23.12. 6,787 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 33,430. Investar Holding Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $15.39 and a fifty-two week high of $24.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.89 and a quick ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $227.27 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.62. The stock's fifty day moving average is $22.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $19.63.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $22.27 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.15 million. Investar had a net margin of 14.33% and a return on equity of 8.84%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Investar Holding Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Investar Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This is an increase from Investar's previous quarterly dividend of $0.11. Investar's dividend payout ratio is 19.64%.

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.