Royce & Associates LP Has $4.90 Million Stock Holdings in Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR)

Royce & Associates LP decreased its holdings in Investar Holding Co. (NASDAQ:ISTR) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 223,172 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 35,438 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP owned 2.27% of Investar worth $4,901,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Investar by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 26,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $507,000 after buying an additional 5,224 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Investar by 5.6% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 108,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,117,000 after purchasing an additional 5,774 shares in the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Investar during the 3rd quarter worth about $572,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of Investar by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 54,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,189,000 after purchasing an additional 2,599 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Investar by 46.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 16,417 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $318,000 after purchasing an additional 5,190 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on ISTR. StockNews.com cut shares of Investar from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Piper Sandler began coverage on shares of Investar in a research report on Friday, February 21st. They set a “neutral” rating and a $21.00 target price for the company.

Investar Trading Up 1.9 %

ISTR opened at $17.44 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.37 million, a PE ratio of 8.55 and a beta of 0.81. Investar Holding Co. has a 1-year low of $14.60 and a 1-year high of $24.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $18.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $20.31.

Investar (NASDAQ:ISTR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The financial services provider reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.26. Investar had a net margin of 12.81% and a return on equity of 8.00%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Investar Holding Co. will post 1.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.