Equities Analysts Issue Forecasts for BFST Q1 Earnings

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFSTFree Report) – Investment analysts at DA Davidson issued their Q1 2025 earnings per share estimates for shares of Business First Bancshares in a report issued on Tuesday, January 28th. DA Davidson analyst M. Navas forecasts that the company will post earnings of $0.63 per share for the quarter. The consensus estimate for Business First Bancshares’ current full-year earnings is $2.27 per share.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James raised shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th.

Read Our Latest Report on BFST

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $27.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Business First Bancshares has a one year low of $18.97 and a one year high of $30.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $809.99 million, a P/E ratio of 11.82 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s fifty day moving average is $26.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.57.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFSTGet Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 183,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.2% in the second 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 during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,441,000 after buying an additional 24,992 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 407,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,468,000 after buying an additional 27,023 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP increased 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 valued at $9,862,000 after acquiring an additional 33,870 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

About Business First Bancshares

(Get Free Report)

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.

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