Investar Q2 Earnings: NIM Expands to 3.67%, Core EPS $0.75; New COO/CRO Employment Agreements
ISTR sits 42% above its 52-week low of $20.99.
Summary
Investar Holding Corp reported Q2 2026 core EPS of $0.75, driven by an 8 bps NIM expansion to 3.67%, and disclosed new employment agreements for its COO and CRO.
Key Events · Earnings and Guidance · ISTR
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Q2 Core EPS $0.75, NIM Expands
Core diluted EPS of $0.75 on net income available to common of $8.9M. Net interest margin improved 8 bps QoQ to 3.67% as cost of funds declined 9 bps to 2.31%.
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Balance Sheet Optimization
Total loans decreased 0.3% to $3.06B as consumer mortgage runoff was replaced by business lending growth. Brokered time deposits fell 37.9% to $62.9M, reducing wholesale funding reliance.
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New Executive Employment Agreements
COO Linda Crochet and CRO Jeffrey Martin entered new 3-year employment agreements with base salaries of $280K and $275K, plus salary continuation agreements providing $100K annual payments for 10 years post-retirement.
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Capital Return to Shareholders
Repurchased 27,235 shares at average $27.68 during Q2; increased quarterly dividend 9% to $0.12 per share. 300,741 shares remain authorized for repurchase.
Analysis · ISTR · Finance
Investar Holding Corp reported Q2 2026 net income of $8.9M ($0.61 diluted EPS), with core EPS of $0.75. Net interest margin expanded 8 bps to 3.67% as the company replaced higher-cost brokered deposits with lower-cost funding. The bank also disclosed new employment agreements for COO Linda Crochet and CRO Jeffrey Martin, locking in key operational leadership. While earnings declined sequentially due to a prior-quarter reserve release, the core profitability and margin improvement signal effective balance sheet management post-WFB acquisition.
At the time of this filing, ISTR was trading at $29.87 on NASDAQ in the Finance sector, with a market capitalization of approximately $412M. The 52-week trading range was $20.99 to $31.77. This filing was assessed with positive market sentiment and an importance score of 7 out of 10.