Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.12 EPS

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

Investar Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ ISTR opened at $19.89 on Tuesday. Investar has a 1 year low of $9.07 and a 1 year high of $21.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market cap of $195.50 million, a PE ratio of 11.11 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.00.

Investar Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Investar’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.46%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Investar Company Profile

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.