Rodgers Brothers Inc. Decreases Stake in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Rodgers Brothers Inc. decreased its holdings in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 10.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 16,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 2,000 shares during the quarter. Rodgers Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Business First Bancshares were worth $424,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 7.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 407,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,468,000 after buying an additional 27,023 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 158.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 46,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 28,663 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.0% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,441,000 after purchasing an additional 24,992 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 194.8% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 196,238 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,037,000 after purchasing an additional 129,677 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 171,115 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,365,000 after purchasing an additional 34,602 shares in the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group raised Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.50 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, January 24th.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day acquired 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $25.46 per share, with a total value of $38,190.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 264,285 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,728,696.10. This represents a 0.57 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 0.5 %

BFST opened at $24.35 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $719.59 million, a PE ratio of 10.77 and a beta of 1.04. 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, Inc. has a 12-month low of $18.97 and a 12-month high of $30.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $26.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.28.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.19% and a return on equity of 11.88%. As a group, research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.78%.

About Business First Bancshares

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.