Alliancebernstein L.P. decreased its stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 108,578 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,500 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. owned approximately 0.37% of Business First Bancshares worth $2,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its position in Business First Bancshares by 37.5% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 3,582 shares of the company's stock worth $92,000 after purchasing an additional 976 shares during the last quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Business First Bancshares by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Robertson Stephens Wealth Management LLC now owns 133,761 shares of the company's stock worth $3,438,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its position in Business First Bancshares by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 78,812 shares of the company's stock worth $2,025,000 after buying an additional 3,809 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in Business First Bancshares by 81.8% during the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 8,631 shares of the company's stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 3,883 shares during the period. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $111,000. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company's stock.
Business First Bancshares Price Performance
NASDAQ:BFST traded up $0.29 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $22.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 101,440 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,254. The company has a market capitalization of $672.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.06 and a beta of 0.75. 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, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.30. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $24.58 and a 200-day moving average of $25.94.
Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 14.19%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 24.78%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $25.46 per share, for a total transaction of $38,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 264,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,728,696.10. The trade was a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
Separately, Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research report on Friday, January 24th.
Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Business First Bancshares
Business First Bancshares Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Before you consider Business First Bancshares, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Business First Bancshares wasn't on the list.
While Business First Bancshares currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of ten stocks that are set to soar in Spring 2025, despite the threat of tariffs and other economic uncertainty. These ten stocks are incredibly resilient and are likely to thrive in any economic environment.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
