Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Trading Down 4.6%

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) shares fell 4.6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $20.56 and last traded at $20.76. 14,002 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average session volume of 49,288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on BFST. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on Business First Bancshares from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James cut Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research note on Monday, January 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.33.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 5.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $527.66 million, a P/E ratio of 8.03 and a beta of 0.94.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $101.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.40 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 18.22%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.37, for a total transaction of $156,590.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,725.22. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BFST. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $10,968,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 2,365.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 246,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $60,760,000 after acquiring an additional 236,500 shares during the period. Kennedy Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 25.1% in the third quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 295,969 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,552,000 after acquiring an additional 59,297 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth about $743,000. Finally, Wakefield Asset Management LLLP purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth about $713,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% 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.