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

Hovde Group lowered shares of Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a report released on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $31.50 target price on the stock, up from their prior target price of $30.00.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of BFST opened at $28.20 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $25.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $833.06 million, a P/E ratio of 12.22 and a beta of 0.97. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued 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. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $37,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $471,264.60. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,115,000 after buying an additional 68,506 shares during the period. Creative Planning bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $476,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 3.3% during the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 5.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock valued at $323,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. Finally, ELCO Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 3.0% during the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 20,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the period. 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.