Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Sells $158,160.00 in Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,891,282.52. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Joseph Vernon Johnson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 4th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00.
• On Tuesday, October 29th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BFST opened at $26.09 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $770.70 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.25 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50 day moving average of $25.26 and a 200 day moving average of $23.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $27.72.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group upped 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 Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of BFST. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in Business First Bancshares by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,568,000 after acquiring an additional 50,955 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% in the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after buying an additional 345,000 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV boosted its position in 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 valued at $2,636,000 after buying 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.