Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Plans $0.14 Quarterly Dividend

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

Business First Bancshares has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.8% annually over the last three years. Business First Bancshares has a payout ratio of 18.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 2.0 %

BFST opened at $27.93 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $26.40 and its 200-day moving average is $25.76. Business First Bancshares has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $30.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $825.05 million, a P/E ratio of 12.36 and a beta of 1.00.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 14.19%. Analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BFST. Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James raised shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

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.