Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Rating Increased to Outperform at Raymond James

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) was upgraded by research analysts at Raymond James from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Finviz reports. The firm currently has a $30.00 price target on the stock. Raymond James’ target price points to a potential upside of 16.87% from the stock’s current price.

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

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 5.0 %

NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.67 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $758.32 million, a PE ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.59. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $65,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased 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 valued at $227,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.