Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Upgraded at Hovde Group

Hovde Group upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Hovde Group currently has $33.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $31.50.

Separately, Raymond James raised shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 8.8 %

BFST stock opened at $27.69 on Friday. Business First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $30.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The business’s 50 day moving average is $26.63 and its 200-day moving average is $25.48. The firm has a market cap of $817.99 million, a P/E ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.00.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. Equities analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.78%.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the 3rd 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. KG&L Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth $227,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth about $333,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 26.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 3,083 shares during the last quarter. 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.