Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) - Investment analysts at DA Davidson raised their FY2024 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of Business First Bancshares in a research note issued on Thursday, December 19th. DA Davidson analyst M. Navas now forecasts that the company will earn $2.28 per share for the year, up from their prior forecast of $2.17. The consensus estimate for Business First Bancshares' current full-year earnings is $2.29 per share. DA Davidson also issued estimates for Business First Bancshares' Q4 2024 earnings at $0.47 EPS.
Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 earnings per share.
BFST has been the subject of several other reports. Hovde Group lowered Business First Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday, November 13th. Raymond James raised Business First Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday.
Read Our Latest Research Report on BFST
Business First Bancshares Stock Performance
Shares of Business First Bancshares stock traded up $0.11 on Friday, reaching $25.93. 473,416 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 70,594. The company has a 50 day moving average of $27.46 and a 200 day moving average of $24.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $18.97 and a 52 week high of $30.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $766.00 million, a PE ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.98.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Business First Bancshares
Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC bought a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the second quarter worth $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position 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 worth $222,000 after buying an additional 3,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter worth about $227,000. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares
In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 185,557 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,891,282.52. The trade was a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.
Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.
About Business First Bancshares
(
Get 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.
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