Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Sees Large Volume Increase – What’s Next?

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday . Approximately 36,693 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the previous session’s volume of 65,318 shares.The stock last traded at $28.87 and had previously closed at $28.38.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group lowered 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 research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

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 stock has a market capitalization of $851.93 million, a PE ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $26.44 and its 200-day moving average is $23.83.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $37,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at $471,264.60. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at $4,891,282.52. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,568,000 after purchasing an additional 50,955 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 5.0% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,441,000 after acquiring an additional 24,992 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 19.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,115,000 after acquiring an additional 68,506 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP grew its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after acquiring an additional 345,000 shares in the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.