Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Announces Earnings Results

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.44 on Friday. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $26.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $25.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $751.50 million, a PE ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 183,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.