Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) Announces $0.11 Quarterly Dividend

Key Points

• Investar Holding Corporation declared a quarterly dividend of $0.11 per share, scheduled for distribution on October 31st to shareholders on record as of September 30th.
• The company has an annualized dividend yield of 2.0% and a payout ratio of 18.8%, indicating strong earnings coverage.
• In its latest quarterly report, Investar exceeded earnings expectations with $0.47 earnings per share, compared to the consensus estimate of $0.40.

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 17th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.11 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, October 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th.

Investar has a payout ratio of 18.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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

ISTR stock traded down $0.52 on Friday, hitting $23.01. The company had a trading volume of 100,787 shares, compared to its average volume of 39,408. Investar has a 12-month low of $15.39 and a 12-month high of $24.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $22.43 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.87. The stock has a market cap of $226.19 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.27 and a beta of 0.62.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Monday, July 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.07. Investar had a net margin of 14.33% and a return on equity of 8.84%. The company had revenue of $22.27 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $21.15 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Investar will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler lifted their price target 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $27.00.

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.