Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) saw strong trading volume on Monday . 36,693 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 44% from the previous session’s volume of 65,318 shares.The stock last traded at $28.87 and had previously closed at $28.38.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 2.8 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $861.68 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.55 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average of $26.33 and a 200 day moving average of $23.73.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Insider Activity

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 approximately $471,264.60. This represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BFST. Argent Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% in the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 20,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 2.9% during the second quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.1% during the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 49,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after acquiring an additional 2,400 shares during the period. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.