Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) Raises Dividend to $0.11 Per Share

Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.105 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a boost from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10.

Investar has raised its dividend by an average of 16.5% annually over the last three years. Investar has a dividend payout ratio of 21.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Investar to earn $1.94 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.42 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.6%.

Investar Price Performance

NASDAQ ISTR opened at $19.43 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $190.98 million, a P/E ratio of 10.85 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $16.61. Investar has a fifty-two week low of $9.07 and a fifty-two week high of $19.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.26, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last posted its earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $38.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Investar will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of 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.