Short Interest in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Increases By 45.2%

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) was the recipient of 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 trading volume of 85,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $471,264.60. This represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992 in the last quarter. Insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth about $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth approximately $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the second quarter valued at approximately $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $227,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of BFST opened at $28.50 on Friday. Business First Bancshares has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $30.30. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $26.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.97. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $841.89 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.28 and a beta of 0.97.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.71 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is currently 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.