Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson Sells 5,574 Shares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 5,574 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.38, for a total transaction of $141,468.12. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 213,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,415,000.66. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

BFST stock traded down $1.25 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $24.17. The company had a trading volume of 86,246 shares, compared to its average volume of 57,049. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.88 and a 12 month high of $26.68. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.78. The firm has a market cap of $616.34 million, a PE ratio of 9.52 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.13. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.36%. The company had revenue of $112.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.16 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.32%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 22.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ranger Investment Management L.P. boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Ranger Investment Management L.P. now owns 333,918 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,231,000 after purchasing an additional 17,095 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,276,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,945,000 after buying an additional 16,094 shares during the period. KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at $216,000. Finally, Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 189,643 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,675,000 after acquiring an additional 9,489 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group lifted their price target on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $26.67.

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.