Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Sells $105,987.40 in Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,940.51. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ BFST traded down $0.94 on Thursday, reaching $26.19. The stock had a trading volume of 77,729 shares, compared to its average volume of 61,807. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.97 and a 12-month high of $27.72. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $25.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $22.87. The stock has a market cap of $667.90 million, a P/E ratio of 11.69 and a beta of 0.97.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.19% and a net margin of 15.90%. The company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BFST. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $116,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 75.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 5,004 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group boosted their target price on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

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.