11,812 Shares in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Acquired by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 11,812 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth $67,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares during the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $317,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter worth $432,000. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter worth $466,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.46 per share, with a total value of $38,190.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 264,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,728,696.10. This represents a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Remove Ads

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST traded down $0.03 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $24.60. 61,749 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 76,580. The stock has a market capitalization of $726.98 million, a P/E ratio of 10.89 and a beta of 1.04. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $26.02 and a 200-day moving average of $26.25. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Saturday, February 15th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Business First Bancshares 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.