Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.17 EPS

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

NASDAQ:BFST remained flat at $25.44 on Thursday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 176,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,755. Business First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $751.50 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a 50-day moving average of $26.71 and a 200 day moving average of $25.40.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group lowered Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972 over the last quarter. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.