John D’angelo Sells 26,163 Shares of Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Stock

Investar Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:ISTR) CEO John D’angelo sold 26,163 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.01, for a total value of $732,825.63. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 242,750 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,799,427.50. This represents a 9.73% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Investar Trading Up 1.6%

Investar stock traded up $0.44 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $28.21. The company had a trading volume of 92,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 60,516. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.90. The firm has a market cap of $276.74 million, a P/E ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $26.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.17. Investar Holding Corporation has a 1 year low of $15.39 and a 1 year high of $31.77.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.04. Investar had a return on equity of 9.31% and a net margin of 14.92%.The business had revenue of $23.93 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $37.35 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Investar Holding Corporation will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Investar Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 30th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 31st. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.56%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in ISTR. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Investar by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 110,602 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,136,000 after purchasing an additional 18,148 shares during the period. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Investar in the second quarter valued at about $480,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Investar by 16.6% during the second quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 112,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,170,000 after buying an additional 16,000 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Investar by 9.0% during the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 54,783 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,058,000 after acquiring an additional 4,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fourthstone LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Investar in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $584,000. 50.17% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on ISTR. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Investar in a report on Monday, December 29th. Piper Sandler raised their target price on shares of Investar to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Investar from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have assigned a Buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $29.00.

Investar Company Profile

Investar Holdings, Inc is a bank holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, operating through its primary subsidiary, Investar Bank. The company delivers commercial and consumer banking products across southeastern Louisiana and into select Texas markets, focusing on relationship-driven service. Investar Bank’s offerings include deposit accounts, lending solutions, online and mobile banking, and treasury management services.

Its lending portfolio encompasses commercial real estate financing, construction and development loans, commercial and industrial credits, agricultural loans, and residential mortgage originations.