Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Update

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 254,400 shares, an increase of 90.6% from the December 31st total of 133,500 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 99,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

NASDAQ BFST traded down $0.25 during trading on Thursday, hitting $27.17. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 106,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 126,332. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30. The firm has a market cap of $802.60 million, a P/E ratio of 11.71 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $26.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. Equities research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares will post 2.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,282.52. This represents a 3.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.45% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,568,000 after buying an additional 50,955 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its stake in Business First Bancshares by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 53,006 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,154,000 after buying an additional 3,385 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $333,000. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp grew its position in Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% during the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,051,000 after acquiring an additional 345,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 26.1% during the third quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 3,083 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on BFST. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th.

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.