Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Update

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) was the target of a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 151,300 shares, a decline of 19.1% from the September 30th total of 187,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 74,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group upped their price objective on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $471,264.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings 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 buying an additional 50,955 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,115,000 after purchasing an additional 68,506 shares during the last quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% during the second quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after purchasing an additional 345,000 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 6.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 201,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,482,000 after purchasing an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.3% during the second quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 121,136 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,636,000 after purchasing an additional 4,975 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of BFST stock opened at $26.46 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $26.93. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $22.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $674.78 million, a PE ratio of 11.41 and a beta of 0.97.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.19% and a net margin of 15.90%. The company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.14 EPS 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 issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.12%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

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.