Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Shares Gap Up Following Earnings Beat

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) gapped up before the market opened on Friday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $25.44, but opened at $26.35. Business First Bancshares shares last traded at $26.96, with a volume of 51,063 shares trading hands.

The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BFST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,891,282.52. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $67,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth approximately $227,000. AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $333,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 26.1% in the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the company’s stock worth $383,000 after buying an additional 3,083 shares in the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $817.96 million, a PE ratio of 11.94 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Business First Bancshares Company Profile

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.