Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Sees Large Volume Increase – Time to Buy?

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) shares saw unusually-strong trading volume on Monday . Approximately 36,693 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 44% from the previous session’s volume of 65,318 shares.The stock last traded at $28.87 and had previously closed at $28.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 0.4 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $851.93 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.43 and a beta of 0.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $26.44 and a 200-day moving average of $23.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.94%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares in the company, valued at $4,819,890.81. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $471,264.60. This trade represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFST. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at about $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 81.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth $227,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

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.