Kings Path Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Kings Path Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 12.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,630 shares during the quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC’s holdings in Business First Bancshares were worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 7.2% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $116,000. LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 49,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Finally, ClariVest Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on BFST shares. Hovde Group downgraded Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST traded up $0.18 during trading on Monday, hitting $25.22. The company had a trading volume of 44,233 shares, compared to its average volume of 78,687. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $25.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $745.02 million, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.00. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its 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. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Insider Activity

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’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 transaction of $105,987.40. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.