Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Sells $158,160.00 in Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,891,282.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Joseph Vernon Johnson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 4th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00.
• On Tuesday, October 29th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $26.09. The company had a trading volume of 91,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,276. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $27.72. 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 company has a market cap of $770.70 million, a P/E ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 0.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $25.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.01.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group raised their target price on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth $116,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $227,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 75.8% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 5,004 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argent Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.