Short Interest in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Expands By 24.1%

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in the month of February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 246,800 shares, an increase of 24.1% from the January 31st total of 198,900 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 107,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 3.3 %

NASDAQ:BFST opened at $25.44 on Wednesday. Business First Bancshares has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $751.52 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.26 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $26.19.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. Analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, February 15th were paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.78%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $476,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $227,000. Summit Global Investments bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $405,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at about $432,000. Finally, Royce & Associates LP increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 9.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,862,000 after acquiring an additional 33,870 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.