Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Up 17.0% in July

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totalling 212,800 shares, a growth of 17.0% from the June 30th total of 181,900 shares. Currently, 6.2% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 61,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BFST. Argent Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% in the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 494,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,183,000 after purchasing an additional 3,358 shares during the period. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP boosted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 42,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after buying an additional 3,984 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $106,000. 47.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.4 %

BFST stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $25.51. 134,709 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 56,441. The firm has a market cap of $650.51 million, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares has a twelve month low of $17.88 and a twelve month high of $26.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.69 and its 200 day moving average is $21.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.13. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.36%. The firm had revenue of $112.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.16 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.02 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, August 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group increased their price target on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $26.67.

Business First Bancshares Company Profile

Business First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for b1BANK that provides various banking products and services in Louisiana and Texas. It offers various deposit products and services, including checking, demand, money market, time, and savings accounts; and certificates of deposits, remote deposit capture, and direct deposit services.