Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Shares Purchased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 1.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,276,408 shares of the company’s stock after buying an additional 16,094 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 5.04% of Business First Bancshares worth $23,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American International Group Inc. lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 4.3% during the second quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 9,909 shares of the company’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 44.5% in the fourth quarter. Metropolitan Life Insurance Co NY now owns 1,617 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 498 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 6.0% in the second quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 12,639 shares of the company’s stock valued at $190,000 after purchasing an additional 719 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 9.8% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 10,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 1.9% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Business First Bancshares from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Raymond James downgraded Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Finally, DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research report on Monday, January 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.37, for a total transaction of $156,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 24,306 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $543,725.22. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Business First Bancshares Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $20.40 on Friday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a twelve month low of $13.05 and a twelve month high of $25.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $21.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $521.02 million, a PE ratio of 7.85 and a beta of 0.94.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 18.22%. The business had revenue of $101.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 21.54%.

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.