Insider Selling: Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) EVP Sells 6,300 Shares of Stock

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

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 5.4 %

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

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.16 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.19% and a net margin of 15.90%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.07 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, August 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 22.05%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $106,000. Panagora Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $216,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $218,000. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $225,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 75.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 5,004 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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