Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.13, Zacks reports. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.36%. The firm had revenue of $112.05 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.16 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.70 EPS.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 4.0 %

Shares of BFST stock opened at $26.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $668.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.98. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $16.92 and a 1 year high of $26.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $21.60 and a 200-day moving average price of $21.72.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, August 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is presently 22.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $20.30 per share, with a total value of $36,540.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 262,785 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,334,535.50. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 6.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.