Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) is Mendon Capital Advisors Corp’s 10th Largest Position

Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lowered its position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 13.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 267,830 shares of the company’s stock after selling 42,082 shares during the period. Business First Bancshares comprises about 3.4% of Mendon Capital Advisors Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp owned 0.91% of Business First Bancshares worth $6,883,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 106.7% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter worth $111,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at $245,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth about $294,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 1.1 %

BFST opened at $22.48 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.48 and its 200 day moving average is $25.93. The stock has a market cap of $664.78 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.95 and a beta of 0.75. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th were issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.78%.

Insider Activity

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day bought 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $25.46 per share, for a total transaction of $38,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 264,285 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,728,696.10. This represents a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 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.