Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC Has $3.44 Million Position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 133,761 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Business First Bancshares were worth $3,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,441,000 after purchasing an additional 24,992 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 407,801 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,468,000 after purchasing an additional 27,023 shares in the last quarter. Royce & Associates LP increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 9.7% during the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,862,000 after purchasing an additional 33,870 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 921.9% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 295,275 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,580,000 after acquiring an additional 266,380 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 194.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,238 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,037,000 after acquiring an additional 129,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BFST. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

BFST opened at $27.96 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $825.94 million, a P/E ratio of 12.37 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $26.46 and a 200 day moving average of $25.69. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. On average, research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.78%.

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.