Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Cut to Market Perform at Hovde Group

Hovde Group cut shares of Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $31.50 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $30.00.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

BFST opened at $28.20 on Wednesday. Business First Bancshares has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $30.30. The stock has a market cap of $833.06 million, a PE ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.02 and its 200-day moving average is $23.45. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $471,264.60. This trade represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.