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Investar (ISTR) Competitors

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$22.22 +0.20 (+0.91%)
As of 12:51 PM Eastern

ISTR vs. AMTB, MCB, BFST, NBN, MCBS, NBBK, EQBK, XYF, VEL, and IBCP

Should you be buying Investar stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Investar include Amerant Bancorp (AMTB), Metropolitan Bank (MCB), Business First Bancshares (BFST), Northeast Bancorp (NBN), MetroCity Bankshares (MCBS), NB Bancorp (NBBK), Equity Bancshares (EQBK), X Financial (XYF), Velocity Financial (VEL), and Independent Bank (IBCP). These companies are all part of the "banking" industry.

Investar vs. Its Competitors

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) and Amerant Bancorp (NASDAQ:AMTB) are both small-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their media sentiment, dividends, analyst recommendations, earnings, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership and risk.

In the previous week, Investar had 3 more articles in the media than Amerant Bancorp. MarketBeat recorded 4 mentions for Investar and 1 mentions for Amerant Bancorp. Amerant Bancorp's average media sentiment score of 1.67 beat Investar's score of 0.83 indicating that Amerant Bancorp is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company Very Positive Positive Neutral Negative Very Negative Overall Sentiment
Investar
3 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Positive
Amerant Bancorp
1 Very Positive mention(s)
0 Positive mention(s)
0 Neutral mention(s)
0 Negative mention(s)
0 Very Negative mention(s)
Very Positive

Investar has a beta of 0.56, meaning that its stock price is 44% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Amerant Bancorp has a beta of 1.31, meaning that its stock price is 31% more volatile than the S&P 500.

50.2% of Investar shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 42.1% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by institutional investors. 8.8% of Investar shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 5.4% of Amerant Bancorp shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Investar presently has a consensus price target of $27.00, indicating a potential upside of 21.51%. Amerant Bancorp has a consensus price target of $24.60, indicating a potential upside of 23.99%. Given Amerant Bancorp's higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe Amerant Bancorp is more favorable than Investar.

Company Sell Ratings Hold Ratings Buy Ratings Strong Buy Ratings Rating Score
Investar
0 Sell rating(s)
0 Hold rating(s)
1 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
3.00
Amerant Bancorp
0 Sell rating(s)
3 Hold rating(s)
2 Buy rating(s)
0 Strong Buy rating(s)
2.40

Investar has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Amerant Bancorp. Amerant Bancorp is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Investar, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

CompanyGross RevenuePrice/Sales RatioNet IncomeEarnings Per SharePrice/Earnings Ratio
Investar$83.23M2.63$20.25M$2.1910.15
Amerant Bancorp$317.91M2.61-$15.75M-$0.60-33.07

Investar pays an annual dividend of $0.44 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.0%. Amerant Bancorp pays an annual dividend of $0.36 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Investar pays out 20.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Amerant Bancorp pays out -60.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Investar has raised its dividend for 10 consecutive years. Investar is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Investar has a net margin of 13.99% compared to Amerant Bancorp's net margin of -8.38%. Investar's return on equity of 8.60% beat Amerant Bancorp's return on equity.

Company Net Margins Return on Equity Return on Assets
Investar13.99% 8.60% 0.75%
Amerant Bancorp -8.38%6.36%0.51%

Summary

Investar beats Amerant Bancorp on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.

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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time

This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding ISTR and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
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Media Sentiment Over Time

This chart shows the average media sentiment of NASDAQ and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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ISTR vs. The Competition

MetricInvestarBANKS IndustryFinance SectorNASDAQ Exchange
Market Cap$218.76M$1.98B$11.87B$8.93B
Dividend Yield1.96%2.62%5.53%4.04%
P/E Ratio10.1512.4920.0220.17
Price / Sales2.632.6825.7594.17
Price / Cash10.1012.5018.7228.59
Price / Book0.911.222.265.60
Net Income$20.25M$154.64M$990.84M$248.41M
7 Day Performance8.71%2.10%0.98%6.03%
1 Month Performance14.95%6.62%3.79%7.70%
1 Year Performance44.01%30.20%540.71%20.86%

Investar Competitors List

CompanyMarketRankShare PriceAnalysts' Price Target1Y Price PerformanceMarket CapRevenueP/E RatioEmployee CountIndicator(s)
ISTR
Investar
4.8681 of 5 stars
$22.22
+0.9%
$27.00
+21.5%
+47.0%$218.76M$83.23M10.15340
AMTB
Amerant Bancorp
3.9432 of 5 stars
$18.16
+0.4%
$24.60
+35.5%
-12.8%$759.62M$317.91M-31.86680
MCB
Metropolitan Bank
2.5533 of 5 stars
$70.25
+0.2%
$77.00
+9.6%
+79.2%$747.70M$492.21M11.89240
BFST
Business First Bancshares
3.4879 of 5 stars
$24.65
-0.1%
$31.00
+25.8%
+25.8%$732.58M$458.96M10.14750News Coverage
Analyst Forecast
NBN
Northeast Bancorp
2.5664 of 5 stars
$88.99
+0.8%
$97.50
+9.6%
+61.9%$724.62M$263.77M9.90180Positive News
High Trading Volume
MCBS
MetroCity Bankshares
2.9248 of 5 stars
$28.58
+0.6%
$34.00
+19.0%
+16.8%$721.40M$235.98M11.12220Positive News
NBBK
NB Bancorp
3.0958 of 5 stars
$17.86
+0.4%
$22.00
+23.2%
+24.6%$721.34M$304.05M15.14342Positive News
EQBK
Equity Bancshares
4.3085 of 5 stars
$40.80
-1.1%
$46.60
+14.2%
+27.5%$714.61M$225.03M10.25700Upcoming Earnings
High Trading Volume
XYF
X Financial
2.7892 of 5 stars
$17.38
+5.0%
N/A+336.3%$691.46M$804.43M3.62420News Coverage
Positive News
VEL
Velocity Financial
2.0198 of 5 stars
$18.52
-1.5%
$21.33
+15.2%
+0.3%$686.41M$135.80M9.55220News Coverage
High Trading Volume
IBCP
Independent Bank
3.0263 of 5 stars
$32.41
-0.6%
$36.67
+13.1%
+33.0%$675.92M$323.14M10.32920Positive News

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This page (NASDAQ:ISTR) was last updated on 7/8/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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