Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Up 7.2% in December

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 133,500 shares, a growth of 7.2% from the November 30th total of 124,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 94,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.4 days.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $158,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,891,282.52. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $14,568,000 after buying an additional 50,955 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,441,000 after buying an additional 24,992 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings 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 valued at $9,115,000 after buying an additional 68,506 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 7.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 407,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,468,000 after buying an additional 27,023 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 9.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,862,000 after buying an additional 33,870 shares during the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.70 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $24.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares has a 12-month low of $18.97 and a 12-month high of $30.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $759.20 million, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 0.98.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

BFST has been the topic of several research reports. Raymond James raised shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group lowered shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.