23,056 Shares in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Bought by Martingale Asset Management L P

Martingale Asset Management L P bought a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,056 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $592,000. Martingale Asset Management L P owned about 0.08% of Business First Bancshares at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $67,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the second quarter valued at $116,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew 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 in the last quarter. Finally, KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares during the third quarter valued at $227,000. 47.35% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 1.6 %

BFST stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.50. The company had a trading volume of 117,346 shares, compared to its average volume of 66,303. The firm has a market capitalization of $841.89 million, a P/E ratio of 12.17 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $30.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.52 million for 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 posted $0.71 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $0.14 dividend. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total value of $37,020.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at $471,264.60. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the director now owns 183,057 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. This represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock worth $366,992 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.