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

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) was downgraded by Hovde Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a $31.50 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $30.00. Hovde Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.72% from the stock’s previous close.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

BFST opened at $28.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $848.09 million, a P/E ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.97. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $25.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $23.36. 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 results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $471,264.60. This trade represents a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were 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 approximately $5,407,940.51. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992 over the last quarter. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BFST. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $227,000. 47.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.