Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) CFO Greg Robertson Sells 1,086 Shares of Stock

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) CFO Greg Robertson sold 1,086 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.72, for a total transaction of $25,759.92. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 69,235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,642,254.20. The trade was a 1.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ:BFST opened at $24.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.30. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $25.48. The stock has a market cap of $716.54 million, a PE ratio of 10.68 and a beta of 0.81.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.61 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $79.21 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $77.54 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. Analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, May 31st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.32%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on BFST shares. Raymond James reduced their price objective on shares of Business First Bancshares from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Stephens cut their target price on Business First Bancshares from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 106.7% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 543 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth about $67,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at about $85,000. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 37.5% during the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,582 shares of the company’s stock valued at $92,000 after acquiring an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 4th quarter valued at about $94,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

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.