Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Cut to “Market Perform” at Hovde Group

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) was downgraded by investment analysts at Hovde Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued on Wednesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. They presently have a $31.50 price objective on the stock, up from their prior price objective of $30.00. Hovde Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.64% from the company’s previous close.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 1.1 %

NASDAQ BFST opened at $29.54 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. Business First Bancshares has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $30.30. The company has a 50 day moving average of $25.64 and a 200-day moving average of $23.26. The company has a market cap of $872.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.73 and a beta of 0.97.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares in the company, valued at $5,407,940.51. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,940.51. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $471,264.60. The trade was a 0.00 % 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 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Business First Bancshares

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,115,000 after purchasing an additional 68,506 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth $476,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.3% in the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company’s stock worth $323,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ELCO Management Co. LLC lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 3.0% in the second 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 period. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

About Business First Bancshares

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.