Creative Planning Invests $476,000 in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Creative Planning purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 18,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $476,000. Creative Planning owned 0.07% of Business First Bancshares as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. 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 buying an additional 50,955 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in 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. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its stake in 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. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 6.1% during the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 201,149 shares of the company's stock worth $4,482,000 after acquiring an additional 11,506 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 4.3% during the second quarter. Smith Shellnut Wilson LLC ADV now owns 121,136 shares of the company's stock worth $2,636,000 after acquiring an additional 4,975 shares in the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group raised their price objective on shares of Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 4.5 %

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock traded down $1.33 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $28.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 131,734 shares, compared to its average volume of 69,920. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a one year low of $18.97 and a one year high of $29.68. The company has a market capitalization of $833.91 million, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.97. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $25.36 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $23.09. 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 quarterly 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. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. The company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.71 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares's payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,819,890.81. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at approximately $471,264.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 183,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,819,890.81. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.

About Business First Bancshares

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.