Martingale Asset Management L P Takes Position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 23,056 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $592,000. Martingale Asset Management L P owned about 0.08% of Business First Bancshares as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Royce & Associates LP raised its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,862,000 after acquiring an additional 33,870 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,115,000 after purchasing an additional 68,506 shares during the period. Creative Planning bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $476,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $579,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group lowered shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 1.9 %

Business First Bancshares stock opened at $28.05 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $828.60 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.09 and a beta of 0.98. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.09. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $30.30. 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 for the quarter, beating 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 analysts’ expectations of $65.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 203,077 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $37,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at $471,264.60. This represents a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

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.