Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Up 7.2% in December

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 133,500 shares, an increase of 7.2% from the November 30th total of 124,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 94,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.4 days.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.70 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $759.20 million, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $30.30. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $24.97.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on BFST. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. 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.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at $4,891,282.52. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 90 days. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 2.9% during the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 49,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. 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.