Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST – Get Free Report) insider Warren Mcdonald sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.37, for a total transaction of $156,590.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,306 shares in the company, valued at $543,725.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.
Business First Bancshares Stock Down 0.6 %
Shares of NASDAQ:BFST opened at $22.24 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $563.92 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.61 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $22.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $13.05 and a fifty-two week high of $25.57.
Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $101.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.40 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.22% and a return on equity of 13.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.
Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages have issued reports on BFST. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research report on Monday, January 15th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of Business First Bancshares from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.33.
Read Our Latest Research Report on BFST
Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 7.3% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,221,560 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,479,000 after buying an additional 150,325 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,302,405 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,104,000 after buying an additional 25,997 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 5.8% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 662,051 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,108,000 after buying an additional 36,323 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 560,978 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,829,000 after buying an additional 78,475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 4.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 480,716 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,244,000 after acquiring an additional 21,242 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.88% of the company’s stock.
Business First Bancshares Company Profile
Business First Bancshares, Inc operates as the bank holding company for b1BANK that provides various banking products and services. 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.
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