Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 24th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years. Business First Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 18.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.54 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.0%.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 8.8 %

NASDAQ:BFST traded up $2.25 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $27.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 250,077 shares, compared to its average volume of 122,430. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $817.96 million, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $26.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.40. Business First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. Equities analysts predict that Business First Bancshares will post 2.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BFST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold a total of 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

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.