Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.12 EPS

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) announced its earnings results on Monday. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12, Yahoo Finance reports. Investar had a return on equity of 6.69% and a net margin of 10.04%. The business had revenue of $40.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.07 million.

Investar Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of ISTR stock opened at $20.81 on Thursday. Investar has a fifty-two week low of $9.07 and a fifty-two week high of $21.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.54 million, a P/E ratio of 11.63 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $18.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.06.

Investar Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.105 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.02%. This is a boost from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 23.46%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com raised Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday.

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.