Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Update

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 216,200 shares, a growth of 45.2% from the October 31st total of 148,900 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 85,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,940.51. This trade represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $37,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $471,264.60. This represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at approximately $116,000. 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. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group downgraded shares of 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.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of BFST traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.50. The stock had a trading volume of 63,535 shares, compared to its average volume of 66,287. The firm has a market cap of $841.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.95. Business First Bancshares has a twelve month low of $18.97 and a twelve month high of $30.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

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.