Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson Sells 3,980 Shares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,940.51. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

BFST opened at $26.31 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $25.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.94. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $27.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $670.91 million, a PE ratio of 11.34 and a beta of 0.97.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.2% during the second 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 stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,115,000 after acquiring an additional 68,506 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% during the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after acquiring an additional 345,000 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 6.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 201,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,482,000 after acquiring an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.3% during the second quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 121,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,636,000 after acquiring an additional 4,975 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.