Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Increases Dividend to $0.11 Per Share

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.105 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

Investar has raised its dividend by an average of 16.5% per year over the last three years. Investar has a payout ratio of 21.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Investar to earn $1.94 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 21.6%.

Investar Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ ISTR opened at $19.43 on Friday. Investar has a one year low of $9.07 and a one year high of $19.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $17.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $190.98 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 0.78.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $38.54 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 million. Investar had a net margin of 10.04% and a return on equity of 6.69%. Sell-side analysts expect that Investar will post 1.52 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 5th.

About Investar

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.