Jane Street Group LLC Reduces Position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Jane Street Group LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 22.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,824 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,938 shares during the quarter. Jane Street Group LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Business First Bancshares worth $535,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,862,000 after acquiring an additional 33,870 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,441,000 after purchasing an additional 24,992 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 194.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,037,000 after purchasing an additional 129,677 shares during the period. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at $476,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares in the company, valued at $4,819,890.81. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972 in the last three months. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Business First Bancshares stock opened at $25.04 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $25.04. Business First Bancshares, Inc. 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 market cap of $739.71 million, a PE ratio of 10.79 and a beta of 0.98.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFST has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.