Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Lowered to “Market Perform” Rating by Hovde Group

Hovde Group downgraded 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 morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have $31.50 price target on the stock, up from their prior price target of $30.00.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of BFST stock opened at $28.20 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $833.06 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.97. Business First Bancshares 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $26.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.45.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. The firm 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 period last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 185,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,282.52. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at about $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth about $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 81.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during 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.