Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 224,700 shares, a decline of 12.2% from the October 15th total of 255,900 shares. Currently, 2.7% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 39,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.7 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of ISTR. Copeland Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Investar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $57,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Investar by 129.1% during the 3rd quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 5,429 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 3,059 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Investar by 2,810.1% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 10,257 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Investar during the first quarter valued at about $185,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Investar in the 3rd quarter valued at about $272,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Investar Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:ISTR traded down $0.26 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $23.33. The company had a trading volume of 13,775 shares, compared to its average volume of 42,694. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. Investar has a one year low of $9.83 and a one year high of $24.26. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $20.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.79. The company has a market capitalization of $229.33 million, a PE ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.76.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $40.39 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $20.07 million. Investar had a net margin of 11.35% and a return on equity of 6.94%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Investar will post 1.64 EPS for the current year.

Investar Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were given a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.80%. This is an increase from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.46%.

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.