Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 11,331 Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. trimmed its holdings in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 51.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,639 shares of the company’s stock after selling 11,331 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Business First Bancshares were worth $273,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% in the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after buying an additional 345,000 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,115,000 after buying an additional 68,506 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake 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 worth $14,568,000 after buying an additional 50,955 shares during the last quarter. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth $802,000. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $499,000 after buying an additional 21,395 shares during the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group cut shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:BFST opened at $28.20 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $833.03 million, a P/E ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.97. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $18.97 and a one year high of $30.30. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $26.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $23.47. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. 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%.

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 sale, the insider now owns 19,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $471,264.60. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,940.51. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992 in the last ninety days. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.