Rick D. Day Purchases 1,500 Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Rick D. Day acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.46 per share, for a total transaction of $38,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 264,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,728,696.10. This represents a 0.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BFST traded down $0.15 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $25.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 77,900 shares, compared to its average volume of 102,824. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $747.09 million, a PE ratio of 11.19 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $26.19.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. On average, research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th were given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.78%.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the fourth quarter worth $85,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on BFST. Hovde Group raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

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.