Insider Selling: 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 company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 203,077 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.5 %

BFST stock opened at $26.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $670.96 million, a PE ratio of 11.34 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $27.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $25.18 and its 200-day moving average is $22.95.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.81% and a net margin of 14.92%. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.24 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,568,000 after buying an additional 50,955 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 19.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,115,000 after purchasing an additional 68,506 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its stake in Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after purchasing an additional 345,000 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 6.1% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 201,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.3% during the 2nd quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 121,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,636,000 after purchasing an additional 4,975 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% 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.