Mendon Capital Advisors Corp Cuts Holdings in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Mendon Capital Advisors Corp lowered its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) by 13.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 267,830 shares of the company's stock after selling 42,082 shares during the quarter. Business First Bancshares comprises approximately 3.4% of Mendon Capital Advisors Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp owned about 0.91% of Business First Bancshares worth $6,883,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 106.7% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,052 shares of the company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 37.5% during the fourth quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,582 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after buying an additional 976 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the fourth quarter valued at about $111,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth approximately $245,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 4th quarter worth $294,000. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day acquired 1,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.46 per share, with a total value of $38,190.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 264,285 shares in the company, valued at $6,728,696.10. This trade represents a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 1.9 %

NASDAQ BFST opened at $23.64 on Friday. 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $24.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $25.89. The company has a market cap of $699.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.46 and a beta of 0.75.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.04. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.