Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Short Interest Up 12.3% in September

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 236,200 shares, a growth of 12.3% from the September 15th total of 210,400 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 54,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.8% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Investar by 7.9% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 3,325 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Investar by 14.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 99,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after purchasing an additional 12,412 shares in the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Investar during the first quarter worth about $185,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Investar during the first quarter worth about $504,000. Finally, Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its position in Investar by 36.3% in the 1st quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 214,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,509,000 after buying an additional 57,178 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Investar Price Performance

ISTR opened at $20.50 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $18.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $16.91. 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 market cap of $201.49 million, a P/E ratio of 11.45 and a beta of 0.78. Investar has a 12 month low of $9.07 and a 12 month high of $20.95.

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

Investar Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.105 per share. This is an increase from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. This represents a $0.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 23.46%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research 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.