Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Makes New Investment in Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 14,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Investar during the first quarter worth approximately $504,000. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in Investar by 2,810.1% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 10,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 10,257 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its stake in Investar by 14.3% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 99,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,625,000 after acquiring an additional 12,412 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Investar by 14.4% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 251,235 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,869,000 after buying an additional 31,589 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Investar by 111.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 48,073 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $740,000 after buying an additional 25,330 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com lowered Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th.

Investar Stock Performance

Shares of ISTR stock opened at $23.59 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $231.89 million, a PE ratio of 13.18 and a beta of 0.76. Investar Holding Co. has a 52-week low of $9.83 and a 52-week high of $24.26. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $20.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $17.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 21st. The financial services provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.33 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $40.39 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.07 million. Investar had a return on equity of 6.94% and a net margin of 11.35%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Investar Holding Co. will post 1.64 EPS for the current year.

Investar Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 31st. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.105 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This represents a $0.42 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. This is a positive change from Investar’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Investar’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.46%.

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.