Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Shares Acquired by State Street Corp

State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 5.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 523,626 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,992 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned 1.77% of Business First Bancshares worth $13,441,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of BFST. Argent Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 3.0% during the second quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 20,307 shares of the company’s stock valued at $442,000 after acquiring an additional 585 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 3.3% in the second quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company’s stock valued at $478,000 after acquiring an additional 708 shares during the period. ClariVest Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management lifted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 49,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.35% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In related news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 6,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.36, for a total transaction of $158,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 185,557 shares in the company, valued at $4,891,282.52. This trade represents a 3.13 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last three months, insiders have sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ BFST opened at $25.94 on Thursday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $30.30. The company has a market capitalization of $766.29 million, a P/E ratio of 11.18 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $24.76. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BFST has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James upgraded shares of Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group downgraded Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.