DA Davidson Has Optimistic Outlook of BFST FY2024 Earnings

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) – Investment analysts at DA Davidson boosted their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Business First Bancshares in a note issued to investors on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst M. Navas now expects that the company will post earnings of $2.28 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $2.17. The consensus estimate for Business First Bancshares’ current full-year earnings is $2.29 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Business First Bancshares’ Q4 2024 earnings at $0.47 EPS.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.71 EPS.

A number of other research firms have also commented on BFST. Hovde Group lowered Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.93 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $766.00 million, a P/E ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.98. 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 has a 50 day moving average of $27.46 and a 200 day moving average of $24.63.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Argent Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 2.9% in the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $911,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.1% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 49,570 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,079,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 183,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,819,890.81. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972 in the last ninety days. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 24.14%.

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.