Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Sells $317,800.00 in Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director George Cummings III sold 10,000 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.78, for a total value of $317,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 201,180 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,393,500.40. The trade was a 4.74% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of BFST opened at $31.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.78. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $22.56 and a 1 year high of $32.53. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.91.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $91.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.31 million. As a group, equities analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Saturday, August 15th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 21.28%.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 115.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 38,485 shares of the company’s stock valued at $937,000 after buying an additional 20,620 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,532.5% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 159,481 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,883,000 after acquiring an additional 149,712 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 85,408 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,080,000 after acquiring an additional 6,596 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 1st quarter valued at $1,150,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on BFST shares. Hovde Group upped their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $32.50 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Stephens upped their price objective on Business First Bancshares from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Business First Bancshares from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $34.50.

About Business First Bancshares

Business First Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Business First Bank, a regional community bank headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company provides a full suite of commercial and retail banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and individual consumers. Business First Bancshares operates under a community-focused model, emphasizing personalized service, local decision-making and relationship banking.

The company’s primary business activities include commercial lending, treasury and cash management, and deposit services.