Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $25.44, but opened at $26.35. Business First Bancshares shares last traded at $26.96, with a volume of 51,063 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFST has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of BFST. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $67,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised 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 buying an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $333,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 3,083 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 8.8 %

The company has a market cap of $817.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.40.

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.