Insider Selling: Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) EVP Sells $159,516.00 in Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) EVP Saundra Strong sold 6,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.32, for a total transaction of $159,516.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 11,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $285,483. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock opened at $22.86 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.95 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $582.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.00 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $17.88 and a 12 month high of $26.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $112.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.16 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.19%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Argent Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 494,253 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,183,000 after purchasing an additional 3,358 shares in the last quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Wakefield Asset Management LLLP now owns 42,014 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 3,984 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $106,000. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.