Business First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 13th

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 22nd. Stockholders of record on Sunday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share on Monday, November 30th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 0.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 2 years. Business First Bancshares has a payout ratio of 20.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $3.26 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.4%.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

BFST opened at $32.65 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 0.96. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $24.19 and a 1 year high of $33.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a PE ratio of 11.66 and a beta of 0.73.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 26th. The company reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.74 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $93.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $93.25 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 17.08% and a return on equity of 11.18%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 3.02 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director George W. Cummings III sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.78, for a total transaction of $317,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 201,180 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,393,500.40. This represents a 4.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 24,200 shares of company stock worth $762,434. Insiders own 5.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $83,985,000. Jupiter Topco LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,491,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,165,720 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,520,000 after acquiring an additional 81,833 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 989,686 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,761,000 after acquiring an additional 3,540 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $13,853,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Company Profile

Business First Bancshares, Inc. is the bank holding company for b1BANK, a regional bank serving businesses, individuals and institutions. The bank offers commercial and personal banking, treasury management, private banking and digital banking services. Founded in Louisiana in 2006 and headquartered in Baton Rouge, Business First has expanded its presence across Louisiana and into Texas. Its services include lending and deposit products for businesses, as well as checking, savings and other banking solutions for consumers.