Kings Path Partners LLC Has $828,000 Stock Holdings in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Kings Path Partners LLC lowered its stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 32,220 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,630 shares during the period. Kings Path Partners LLC owned 0.11% of Business First Bancshares worth $828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter valued at $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% during the 3rd 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 stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $227,000. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on BFST shares. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group downgraded 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 research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of BFST traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $25.22. 44,233 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 78,687. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $27.45 and a 200-day moving average of $25.07. 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, Inc. has a one year low of $18.97 and a one year high of $30.30. The firm has a market cap of $745.02 million, a P/E ratio of 10.87 and a beta of 1.00.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

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.