Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Reaches New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $31.77 and last traded at $31.6750, with a volume of 10926 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $31.47.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFST has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Hovde Group boosted their price target on Business First Bancshares from $32.50 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $33.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, Business First Bancshares has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $34.50.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $29.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.29.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $91.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $91.31 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 17.07%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Saturday, August 15th will be given a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 21.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director George W. Cummings III sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.54, for a total transaction of $428,100.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 281,180 shares in the company, valued at $8,024,877.20. This trade represents a 5.06% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders sold 36,595 shares of company stock worth $1,031,732. Corporate insiders own 5.67% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Gator Capital Management LLC raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Gator Capital Management LLC now owns 65,967 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.5% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 242,669 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,343,000 after purchasing an additional 858 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 9.6% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 12,240 shares of the company’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 1,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 15,600.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 1,099 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 1,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

About Business First Bancshares

Business First Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Business First Bank, a regional community bank headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company provides a full suite of commercial and retail banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and individual consumers. Business First Bancshares operates under a community-focused model, emphasizing personalized service, local decision-making and relationship banking.

The company’s primary business activities include commercial lending, treasury and cash management, and deposit services.