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NASDAQ:BFST

Business First Bancshares (BFST) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Business First Bancshares logo
$31.00 -0.21 (-0.67%)
As of 03:19 PM Eastern

About Business First Bancshares Stock (NASDAQ:BFST)

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Key Stats

Today's Range
$30.99
$31.24
50-Day Range
$29.00
$32.28
52-Week Range
$22.56
$32.53
Volume
74,628 shs
Average Volume
205,235 shs
Market Capitalization
$1.01 billion
P/E Ratio
10.99
Dividend Yield
1.94%
Price Target
$34.75
Consensus Rating
Buy

Company Overview

Business First Bancshares, Inc. is the bank holding company for Business First Bank, a regional community bank headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company provides a full suite of commercial and retail banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and individual consumers. Business First Bancshares operates under a community-focused model, emphasizing personalized service, local decision-making and relationship banking.

The company’s primary business activities include commercial lending, treasury and cash management, and deposit services. Its commercial lending portfolio spans lines of credit, term loans, real estate financing and equipment financing, designed to meet the working capital and expansion needs of growing businesses. On the retail side, Business First Bancshares offers checking and savings accounts, certificates of deposit, residential mortgage lending and digital banking platforms, as well as online bill pay and mobile deposit services.

Business First Bancshares has expanded its branch network across multiple states in the Upper South and Midwest, including Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana and Tennessee, with plans to extend its reach into neighboring markets. This regional presence supports the company’s strategy of serving underserved business communities and fostering long-term client relationships. The bank’s localized approach allows it to tailor products and services to the economic drivers and industries of each market it serves.

Since its founding, Business First Bancshares has maintained a focus on prudent risk management and community engagement. The company’s leadership team comprises seasoned banking professionals with experience in commercial finance, regulatory compliance and community development. By combining local expertise with a broad product offering, Business First Bancshares aims to support the growth of businesses and individuals in its core markets.

AI Generated. May Contain Errors.

Business First Bancshares Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks
85th Percentile Overall Score

BFST MarketRank™: 

Business First Bancshares scored higher than 85% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 233rd out of 851 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

  • Consensus Rating

    Business First Bancshares has received a consensus rating of Buy. The company's average rating score is 3.00, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 5 buy ratings, no hold ratings, and no sell ratings.

  • Upside Potential

    Business First Bancshares has a consensus price target of $34.75, representing about 12.0% upside from its current price of $31.02.

  • Amount of Analyst Coverage

    Business First Bancshares has only been the subject of 4 research reports in the past 90 days.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' stock forecast and price target.
  • Earnings Growth

    Earnings for Business First Bancshares are expected to grow by 9.27% in the coming year, from $3.02 to $3.30 per share.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

    The P/E ratio of Business First Bancshares is 11.00, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.38.

  • Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

    The P/E ratio of Business First Bancshares is 11.00, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 26.71.

  • Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

    Business First Bancshares has a P/B Ratio of 1.11. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' valuation and earnings.
  • Percentage of Shares Shorted

    3.45% of the float of Business First Bancshares has been sold short.
  • Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

    Business First Bancshares has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 4.51.
  • Change versus previous month

    Short interest in Business First Bancshares has recently increased by 25.16%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.
  • Dividend Yield

    Business First Bancshares pays a meaningful dividend of 1.92%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.

  • Dividend Growth

    Business First Bancshares has only been increasing its dividend for 2 years.

  • Dividend Coverage

    The dividend payout ratio of Business First Bancshares is 21.28%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

  • Dividend Sustainability

    Based on earnings estimates, Business First Bancshares will have a dividend payout ratio of 18.18% next year. This indicates that Business First Bancshares will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' dividend.
  • News Sentiment

    Business First Bancshares has a news sentiment score of 0.97. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This news sentiment score is similar to the average news sentiment of Finance companies.
  • News Coverage This Week

    MarketBeat has tracked 16 news articles for Business First Bancshares this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.
  • Search Interest

    2 people have searched for BFST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days.
  • Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

    In the past three months, Business First Bancshares insiders have sold 5,037.14% more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $47,415.00 in company stock and sold $2,435,775.00 in company stock.

  • Percentage Held by Insiders

    5.67% of the stock of Business First Bancshares is held by insiders.

  • Percentage Held by Institutions

    47.35% of the stock of Business First Bancshares is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

  • Read more about Business First Bancshares' insider trading history.
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BFST Stock News Headlines

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See More Headlines

BFST Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions

Business First Bancshares' stock was trading at $26.14 on January 1st, 2026. Since then, BFST shares have increased by 18.7% and is now trading at $31.02.

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July, 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $91.81 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $91.31 million. Business First Bancshares had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 11.03% and a net margin of 17.07%.
Read the conference call transcript
.

Business First Bancshares' board initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, October 28th 2025, which authorizes the company to buy back $30,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could repurchase up to 4.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Top institutional investors of Business First Bancshares include BlackRock Inc. (8.40%), California State Teachers Retirement System (3.50%), Jupiter Topco LLC (3.35%) and Bank of New York Mellon Corp (1.38%). Insiders that own company stock include Rick D Day, George W Cummings III, Joseph Vernon Johnson, Rolfe H Jr Mccollister, Keith Mansfield, Greg Robertson, Mark P Folse, James J Buquet III, Warren Mcdonald, John P Ducrest, Donald Chad Carter and Saundra Strong.
View institutional ownership trends
.

Shares of BFST stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Charles Schwab, E*TRADE, Fidelity, and Vanguard Brokerage Services.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some other companies that Business First Bancshares investors own include NVIDIA (NVDA), Meta Platforms (META), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Broadcom (AVGO), Palo Alto Networks (PANW), Netflix (NFLX) and ServiceNow (NOW).

Company Calendar

Last Earnings
7/23/2026
Ex-Dividend for 8/31 Dividend
8/14/2026
Record date for 8/31 Dividend
8/15/2026
Today
8/31/2026
Dividend Payable
8/31/2026
Next Earnings (Estimated)
10/22/2026
Fiscal Year End
12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange
NASDAQ
Sector
Finance
Industry
Banks
Sub-Industry
Regional Banks
Current Symbol
NASDAQ:BFST
CIK
1624322
Employees
750
Year Founded
N/A

Price Target and Rating

High Price Target
$37.00
Low Price Target
$31.00
Potential Upside/Downside
+12.0%
Consensus Rating
Buy
Rating Score (0-4)
3.00
Research Coverage
5 Analysts

Profitability

EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)
$2.82
Trailing P/E Ratio
11.01
Forward P/E Ratio
10.28
P/E Growth
N/A
Net Income
$87.86 million
Net Margins
17.07%
Pretax Margin
21.67%
Return on Equity
11.03%
Return on Assets
1.13%

Debt

Debt-to-Equity Ratio
0.60
Current Ratio
1.01
Quick Ratio
1.01

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales
$516.55 million
Price / Sales
1.96
Cash Flow
$3.13 per share
Price / Cash Flow
9.93
Book Value
$27.86 per share
Price / Book
1.11

Miscellaneous

Outstanding Shares
32,550,000
Free Float
30,704,000
Market Cap
$1.01 billion
Optionable
Optionable
Beta
0.78
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This page (NASDAQ:BFST) was last updated on 8/31/2026 by MarketBeat.com Staff.
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