Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Down 13.7% in January

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 198,900 shares, a decrease of 13.7% from the January 15th total of 230,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 114,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 24,211 shares of the company’s stock valued at $622,000 after purchasing an additional 8,747 shares in the last quarter. Cresset Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,815,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 164,612 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,231,000 after buying an additional 3,809 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 26.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 28,971 shares of the company’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 6,109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Basswood Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at $921,000. 47.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BFST traded down $0.06 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $27.44. The company had a trading volume of 60,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 114,905. The stock has a market cap of $810.58 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.14 and a beta of 1.00. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30. The business’s 50-day moving average is $26.34 and its 200-day moving average is $25.82. 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, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. Equities analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.