Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Stock Rating Upgraded by Hovde Group

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) was upgraded by research analysts at Hovde Group from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $33.00 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $31.50. Hovde Group’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 19.18% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 8.8 %

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock opened at $27.69 on Friday. Business First Bancshares has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $30.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company’s 50 day moving average is $26.63 and its 200 day moving average is $25.45. The company has a market cap of $817.96 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.00.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $65,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 183,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972. 6.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,568,000 after acquiring an additional 50,955 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,441,000 after purchasing an additional 24,992 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 7.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 407,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,468,000 after buying an additional 27,023 shares during the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP raised its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 9.7% in the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,862,000 after buying an additional 33,870 shares during the period. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after acquiring an additional 345,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.