Insider Selling: Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Sells $158,160.00 in Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,891,282.52. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Joseph Vernon Johnson also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, November 4th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00.
• On Tuesday, October 29th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 4.5 %

NASDAQ:BFST opened at $28.23 on Friday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $18.97 and a one year high of $29.68. 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 firm has a market cap of $833.91 million, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.97. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $25.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.09.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 75.8% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 5,004 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.0% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 66,211 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,475,000 after buying an additional 4,900 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after buying an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 6.1% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 201,149 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,482,000 after buying an additional 11,506 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 2,249.7% in the 1st quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 22,346 shares of the company’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 21,395 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group raised their price target 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, July 26th.

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.