Business First Bancshares (BFST) Expected to Announce Earnings on Thursday

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) is projected to post its quarterly earnings results after the market closes on Thursday, January 23rd. Analysts expect Business First Bancshares to post earnings of $0.49 per share and revenue of $74,745.25 billion for the quarter. Persons that are interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, analysts expect Business First Bancshares to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $3 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock opened at $26.02 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $30.30. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $26.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.36. The stock has a market cap of $768.63 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.22 and a beta of 1.00.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 24.14%.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,282.52. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972 in the last three months. 6.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on BFST. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group cut shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.