Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Rick D. Day Buys 1,500 Shares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Rick D. Day acquired 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $25.46 per share, for a total transaction of $38,190.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 264,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,728,696.10. This represents a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of BFST stock opened at $25.29 on Thursday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.97 and a 12-month high of $30.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $747.09 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.19. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 14.19%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on BFST. Hovde Group raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James raised 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.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,719 shares of the company’s stock valued at $353,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 43,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 545 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 17,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $439,000 after buying an additional 688 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after buying an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.