Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson Sells 2,500 Shares

by · The Markets Daily

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST – Get Free Report) Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total transaction of $65,825.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,819,890.81. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Joseph Vernon Johnson also recently made the following trade(s):

  • On Friday, November 1st, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total value of $158,160.00.
  • On Tuesday, October 29th, Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of Business First Bancshares stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BFST traded up $0.08 on Tuesday, reaching $26.09. The company had a trading volume of 91,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 62,276. The firm has a market capitalization of $770.70 million, a PE ratio of 11.22 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $18.97 and a 52-week high of $27.72. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $25.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $23.01.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.71 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 24.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group raised their target price on shares of Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th.

Get Our Latest Report on BFST

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $432,000. Summit Global Investments acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter valued at $405,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares in the 3rd quarter worth $227,000. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 3rd quarter worth about $476,000. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in Business First Bancshares by 26.1% during the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 14,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $383,000 after purchasing an additional 3,083 shares during the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Business First Bancshares

(Get Free Report)

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.

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