Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC Buys New Position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Meriwether Wealth & Planning LLC bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 37,642 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $967,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company’s stock valued at $222,000 after purchasing an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $304,000. Americana Partners LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $317,000. Finally, Summit Global Investments bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $405,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on BFST. Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James upgraded 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.03 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $26.16 and a 200-day moving average of $26.24. The company has a market capitalization of $739.41 million, a P/E ratio of 11.08 and a beta of 1.04.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 14.19%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.24%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 24.78%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $25.46 per share, with a total value of $38,190.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 264,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,728,696.10. This trade represents a 0.57 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Business First Bancshares 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.