Free Trial
NASDAQ:BFST

Business First Bancshares (BFST) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Business First Bancshares logo
$24.73 +0.33 (+1.35%)
Closing price 04/2/2025 04:00 PM Eastern
Extended Trading
$26.22 +1.49 (+6.03%)
As of 04:20 AM Eastern
Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more.

About Business First Bancshares Stock (NASDAQ:BFST)

Key Stats

Today's Range
$24.03
$24.75
50-Day Range
$23.92
$27.96
52-Week Range
$18.97
$30.30
Volume
148,653 shs
Average Volume
81,804 shs
Market Capitalization
$730.82 million
P/E Ratio
10.94
Dividend Yield
2.26%
Price Target
$31.50
Consensus Rating
Buy

Company Overview

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. The company also provides commercial and industrial loans, such as working capital, term, equipment financing, asset acquisition, expansion and development, borrowing base, and other loan products, as well as commercial lines of credit, accounts receivable factoring, agricultural financing, and letters of credit; construction and development loans; commercial real estate loans; residential real estate loans comprising first and second lien 1-4 family mortgage loans, and home equity lines of credit; and consumer loans, including secured and unsecured installment, and term loans. In addition, it offers wealth management products, including mutual funds, annuities, individual retirement accounts, and other financial products, as well as other fiduciary and private banking products and services. Further, the company provides a range of other financial services comprising debit and credit cards, treasury and cash management, merchant, automated clearing house, lock-box, receivables factoring, correspondent banking, and other treasury services, as well as employee and payroll benefits solutions; and drive-through banking facilities, automated teller machines, night depository, personalized checks, electronic funds transfer, domestic and foreign wire transfer, traveler's checks, vault, loan and deposit sweep accounts, online and mobile banking, e-statements, and bank-by-mail services. Business First Bancshares, Inc. was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Remove Ads

Business First Bancshares Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks
89th Percentile Overall Score

BFST MarketRank™: 

Business First Bancshares scored higher than 89% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 191st out of 939 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

  • Consensus Rating

    Business First Bancshares has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on 2 buy ratings, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

  • Amount of Analyst Coverage

    Business First Bancshares has only been the subject of 1 research reports in the past 90 days.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' stock forecast and price target.
  • Earnings Growth

    Earnings for Business First Bancshares are expected to grow by 8.82% in the coming year, from $2.72 to $2.96 per share.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

    The P/E ratio of Business First Bancshares is 10.94, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 22.52.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

    The P/E ratio of Business First Bancshares is 10.94, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 22.75.

  • Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

    Business First Bancshares has a P/B Ratio of 1.10. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' valuation and earnings.
  • Percentage of Shares Shorted

    0.77% of the float of Business First Bancshares has been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    Business First Bancshares has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
  • Change versus previous month

    Short interest in Business First Bancshares has recently decreased by 1.89%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.
  • Dividend Yield

    Business First Bancshares pays a meaningful dividend of 2.21%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

  • Dividend Growth

    Business First Bancshares does not have a long track record of dividend growth.

  • Dividend Coverage

    The dividend payout ratio of Business First Bancshares is 24.78%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

  • Dividend Sustainability

    Based on earnings estimates, Business First Bancshares will have a dividend payout ratio of 18.92% next year. This indicates that Business First Bancshares will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' dividend.
  • Percentage of Shares Shorted

    0.77% of the float of Business First Bancshares has been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    Business First Bancshares has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 2.1, which is generally considered an acceptable ratio of short interest to trading volume.
  • Change versus previous month

    Short interest in Business First Bancshares has recently decreased by 1.89%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving.
  • News Sentiment

    Business First Bancshares has a news sentiment score of 1.24. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a higher news sentiment than the 0.88 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.
  • News Coverage This Week

    MarketBeat has tracked 4 news articles for Business First Bancshares this week, compared to 2 articles on an average week.
  • MarketBeat Follows

    Only 1 people have added Business First Bancshares to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -50% compared to the previous 30 days.
  • Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

    In the past three months, Business First Bancshares insiders have bought more of their company's stock than they have sold. Specifically, they have bought $38,190.00 in company stock and sold $0.00 in company stock.

  • Percentage Held by Insiders

    Only 6.45% of the stock of Business First Bancshares is held by insiders.

  • Percentage Held by Institutions

    47.35% of the stock of Business First Bancshares is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' insider trading history.
Receive BFST Stock News and Ratings via Email

Sign-up to receive the latest news and ratings for Business First Bancshares and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter.

BFST Stock News Headlines

Trump… a socialist?
Trump’s Final Reset Inside the shocking plot to re-engineer America’s financial system…and why you need to move your money now.
See More Headlines

BFST Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

Business First Bancshares' stock was trading at $25.70 at the beginning of the year. Since then, BFST stock has decreased by 3.8% and is now trading at $24.73.
View the best growth stocks for 2025 here
.

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January, 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.88%.

Shares of BFST stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Business First Bancshares investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Netflix (NFLX) and ServiceNow (NOW).

Company Calendar

Last Earnings
1/23/2025
Ex-Dividend for 2/28 Dividend
2/14/2025
Record date for 2/28 Dividend
2/15/2025
Dividend Payable
2/28/2025
Today
4/02/2025
Next Earnings (Estimated)
4/24/2025
Fiscal Year End
12/31/2025

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange
NASDAQ
Sector
Finance
Industry
State commercial banks
Sub-Industry
Banking
Current Symbol
NASDAQ:BFST
Employees
750
Year Founded
N/A

Price Target and Rating

Average Stock Price Target
$31.50
High Stock Price Target
$33.00
Low Stock Price Target
$30.00
Potential Upside/Downside
+27.4%
Consensus Rating
Buy
Rating Score (0-4)
3.00
Research Coverage
2 Analysts

Profitability

Trailing P/E Ratio
10.94
Forward P/E Ratio
9.09
P/E Growth
N/A
Net Income
$65.11 million
Pretax Margin
19.00%

Debt

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales
$270.37 million
Cash Flow
$2.71 per share
Price / Cash Flow
9.13
Book Value
$22.58 per share
Price / Book
1.10

Miscellaneous

Free Float
27,636,000
Market Cap
$730.82 million
Optionable
Optionable
Beta
1.04
Unlock the Potential in Options Trading Cover

Options trading isn’t just for the Wall Street elite; it’s an accessible strategy for anyone armed with the proper knowledge. Think of options as a strategic toolkit, with each tool designed for a specific financial task. Get this report to learn how options trading can help you use the market’s volatility to your advantage.

Get This Free Report

This page (NASDAQ:BFST) was last updated on 4/3/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
From Our Partners