Hovde Group Boosts Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Price Target to $30.00

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) had its price objective raised by Hovde Group from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the stock.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.41 on Friday. Business First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $17.88 and a fifty-two week high of $26.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $647.96 million, a P/E ratio of 10.00 and a beta of 0.98. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $21.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $21.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $112.05 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.16 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, August 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 22.05%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $106,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $216,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $225,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 75.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 5,004 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

About Business First Bancshares

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.