Kennedy Capital Management LLC Buys 57,178 Shares of Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR)

Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) by 36.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 214,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 57,178 shares during the quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Investar were worth $3,509,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in ISTR. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Investar during the first quarter worth about $504,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Investar during the 1st quarter worth approximately $185,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Investar by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 99,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 12,412 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its holdings in Investar by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 45,558 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after purchasing an additional 3,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Banc Funds Co. LLC boosted its position in Investar by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 609,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,089,000 after purchasing an additional 16,918 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Investar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. Hovde Group cut their price objective on shares of Investar from $20.50 to $20.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd.

Investar Stock Performance

ISTR stock traded up $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $18.81. 55,373 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 43,756. Investar Holding Co. has a 12 month low of $9.07 and a 12 month high of $18.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.90 million, a P/E ratio of 10.47 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.26.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 22nd. The financial services provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $38.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 million. Investar had a net margin of 10.04% and a return on equity of 6.76%. On average, analysts forecast that Investar Holding Co. will post 1.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Investar Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 31st. Investors of record on Monday, July 1st will be paid a $0.10 dividend. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 1st. Investar’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.35%.

Investar 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.