Tudor Investment Corp ET AL Invests $271,000 in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Tudor Investment Corp ET AL purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 10,562 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at $67,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 16.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,144 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,310 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Business First Bancshares by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 798,114 shares of the company’s stock valued at $20,512,000 after acquiring an additional 83,664 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 16.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 17,982 shares of the company’s stock worth $462,000 after acquiring an additional 2,554 shares during the period. Finally, Banc Funds Co. LLC grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Banc Funds Co. LLC now owns 478,494 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,297,000 after purchasing an additional 16,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.46 per share, with a total value of $38,190.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 264,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,728,696.10. The trade was a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Hovde Group raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.50 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James lowered their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Stephens cut their price target on shares of Business First Bancshares from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:BFST opened at $23.96 on Friday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $30.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $23.57 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $25.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $708.55 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.60 and a beta of 0.81.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.04. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. The firm had revenue of $79.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $77.54 million. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 23.05%.

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.