Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Short Interest Up 90.6% in January

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 254,400 shares, a growth of 90.6% from the December 31st total of 133,500 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 99,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $4,819,890.81. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 6.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BFST. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Business First Bancshares by 8.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 669,530 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,568,000 after buying an additional 50,955 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Business First Bancshares by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 523,626 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,441,000 after buying an additional 24,992 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Business First Bancshares by 7.1% during the 3rd 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. Royce & Associates LP raised its stake in Business First Bancshares by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royce & Associates LP now owns 384,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,862,000 after purchasing an additional 33,870 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mendon Capital Advisors Corp boosted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 1,380.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mendon Capital Advisors Corp now owns 370,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,051,000 after purchasing an additional 345,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Stock Down 1.5 %

Business First Bancshares stock opened at $27.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $806.15 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.76 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.57. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.30.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.27 EPS for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, February 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.05%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is currently 24.14%.

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.