16,830 Shares in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Bought by Los Angeles Capital Management LLC

Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 16,830 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $432,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 75.8% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after purchasing an additional 5,004 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.6% during the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in Business First Bancshares by 6.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 201,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,482,000 after buying an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 2,249.7% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 22,346 shares of the company’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 21,395 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $450,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In related news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $37,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $471,264.60. This represents a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992. 6.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group cut Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 1.3 %

BFST opened at $28.20 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.45. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $30.30. The company has a market cap of $833.06 million, a P/E ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Business First Bancshares 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.