Royce & Associates LP Boosts Stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Royce & Associates LP grew its position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Free Report) by 9.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 384,200 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 33,870 shares during the period. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 1.30% of Business First Bancshares worth $9,862,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Argent Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company's stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.0% during the 2nd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 20,307 shares of the company's stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company's stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the company's stock valued at $323,000 after purchasing an additional 771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ClariVest Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company's stock worth $911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares during the period. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group lowered Business First Bancshares from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

BFST traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $28.20. 88,401 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 100,964. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $23.47. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $30.30. The company has a market capitalization of $833.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.16 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities 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 firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares's payout ratio is 24.14%.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now owns 19,095 shares of the company's stock, valued at $471,264.60. This represents a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.

Business First Bancshares 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.