Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Director George Cummings III Sells 10,000 Shares

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director George Cummings III sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.33, for a total value of $313,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 183,745 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,756,730.85. The trade was a 5.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $31.16. 115,085 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 206,759. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $1.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.78. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.56 and a 52 week high of $32.53. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.92.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $91.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $91.31 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 17.07%. Research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, August 15th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 21.28%.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in BFST. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 15,600.0% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 1,092 shares in the last quarter. Delos Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. FWL Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth about $42,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 389.7% in the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 2,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 2,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the second quarter worth approximately $97,000. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on BFST shares. Stephens lifted their price target on shares of Business First Bancshares from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Business First Bancshares from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Hovde Group lifted their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $32.50 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $34.50.

About Business First Bancshares

Business First Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Business First Bank, a regional community bank headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company provides a full suite of commercial and retail banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and individual consumers. Business First Bancshares operates under a community-focused model, emphasizing personalized service, local decision-making and relationship banking.

The company’s primary business activities include commercial lending, treasury and cash management, and deposit services.