Business First Bancshares, Inc. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.14 (NASDAQ:BFST)

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share on Saturday, August 31st. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th.

Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Business First Bancshares has a payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.65 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 21.1%.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of BFST opened at $26.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $668.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Business First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $16.92 and a 1-year high of $26.68. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $21.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.73.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $112.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.16 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.36%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.70 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were bought at an average price of $20.30 per share, for a total transaction of $36,540.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 262,785 shares in the company, valued at $5,334,535.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 6.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.