18,128 Shares in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Purchased by Howard Financial Services LTD.

Howard Financial Services LTD. acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 18,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $466,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of BFST. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $67,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $333,000. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares in the company, valued at $4,819,890.81. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Raymond James upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock opened at $25.58 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $755.63 million, a PE ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.27.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 24.14%.

Business First Bancshares 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.