Janus Henderson Group PLC Buys 266,380 Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) by 921.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 295,275 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 266,380 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC owned about 1.00% of Business First Bancshares worth $7,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company's stock worth $14,568,000 after acquiring an additional 50,955 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 418,869 shares of the company's stock worth $9,115,000 after acquiring an additional 68,506 shares in the last quarter. 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. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% during the second 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 194.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,238 shares of the company's stock worth $5,037,000 after acquiring an additional 129,677 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group downgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $158,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at $4,891,282.52. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 0.6 %

Business First Bancshares stock traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $28.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 89,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 66,842. The company has a market capitalization of $832.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.15 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 12 month low of $18.97 and a 12 month high of $30.30. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $26.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $24.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last released its 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. The business had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

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.