Barclays PLC Purchases 28,663 Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 158.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,792 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,663 shares during the quarter. Barclays PLC owned 0.16% of Business First Bancshares worth $1,201,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% in the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after buying an additional 345,000 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in Business First Bancshares by 921.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 295,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,580,000 after acquiring an additional 266,380 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 194.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,037,000 after purchasing an additional 129,677 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,115,000 after purchasing an additional 68,506 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,568,000 after buying an additional 50,955 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on BFST shares. Hovde Group lowered Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at $4,891,282.52. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972 over the last three months. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $23.50 on Tuesday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.97 and a 12-month high of $30.30. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $27.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $25.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $694.21 million, a PE ratio of 10.13 and a beta of 1.00. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

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.