Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) by 194.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 196,238 shares of the company's stock after buying an additional 129,677 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 0.66% of Business First Bancshares worth $5,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royce & Associates LP boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 9.7% during the third quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company's stock valued at $9,862,000 after buying an additional 33,870 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.6% during the 2nd 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. Creative Planning bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $476,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter valued at $579,000. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 3.3% in the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company's stock worth $478,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Separately, Hovde Group cut shares of Business First Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.
Check Out Our Latest Report on BFST
Business First Bancshares Trading Down 1.9 %
Shares of Business First Bancshares stock traded down $0.53 on Friday, reaching $27.76. The company had a trading volume of 36,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 67,105. The firm has a market cap of $820.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.06 and a beta of 0.98. 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 firm's 50-day moving average price is $27.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.39. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $30.30.
Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $65.24 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.14%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. The trade was a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders sold a total of 12,480 shares of company stock valued at $329,972 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.
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.
Featured Articles
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 "Moderate Buy" rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
Just getting into the stock market? These 10 simple stocks can help beginning investors build long-term wealth without knowing options, technicals, or other advanced strategies.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
