DA Davidson Has Positive Estimate for BFST FY2024 Earnings

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) – Stock analysts at DA Davidson lifted their FY2024 EPS estimates for Business First Bancshares in a report released on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst M. Navas now forecasts that the company will post earnings per share of $2.28 for the year, up from their previous estimate of $2.17. The consensus estimate for Business First Bancshares’ current full-year earnings is $2.29 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Business First Bancshares’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.47 EPS.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Raymond James upgraded 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 research note on Thursday. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.6 %

BFST stock opened at $25.82 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $27.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.60. The stock has a market cap of $762.75 million, a P/E ratio of 11.13 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. 6.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 7.2% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 109,979 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,393,000 after purchasing an additional 7,390 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $106,000. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV increased its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 121,136 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,636,000 after buying an additional 4,975 shares during the last quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. raised its position 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 valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kings Path Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $802,000. Institutional investors 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.