Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stake in Investar Holding Corporation $ISTR

Key Points

• Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its holdings in Investar Holding Corporation by 22.1% during the first quarter, owning approximately 1.51% of the company after selling 42,268 shares, valued at $2,621,000.
• Despite Russell's decrease, several other institutional investors, including Nuveen LLC and Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd., increased their positions in Investar during the same period.
• Investar reported a net margin of 14.33% and a quarterly earnings per share of $0.47, exceeding expectations and leading to a stock price increment of 4.8% recently.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. reduced its stake in shares of Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR - Free Report) by 22.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 148,825 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 42,268 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned approximately 1.51% of Investar worth $2,621,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Investar by 7.5% during 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. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Investar by 42.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 228,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,026,000 after buying an additional 67,695 shares in the last quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its position in Investar by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 145,888 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,204,000 after buying an additional 2,099 shares in the last quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc increased its holdings in shares of Investar by 383.8% in the fourth quarter. Rhino Investment Partners Inc now owns 145,448 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,194,000 after purchasing an additional 115,387 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Investar by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 101,031 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,219,000 after purchasing an additional 3,477 shares during the period. 50.17% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ISTR shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Investar from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, May 17th. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Investar from $22.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.00.

Investar Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ISTR traded down $0.17 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $23.45. The stock had a trading volume of 24,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 33,307. Investar Holding Corporation has a 1 year low of $15.39 and a 1 year high of $24.81. The company has a market capitalization of $230.46 million, a PE ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $19.41.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $22.27 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.15 million. Investar had a return on equity of 8.84% and a net margin of 14.33%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Investar Holding Corporation will post 1.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Investar Increases Dividend

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

Investar 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.