Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.14

Key Points

• Business First Bancshares, Inc. declared a quarterly dividend of $0.14 per share, with a total annualized dividend of $0.56, representing a yield of 2.28%.
• The company reported earnings of $0.66 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' estimates, with revenue of $103.01 million compared to expectations of $78.94 million.
• Institutional investors own 47.35% of Business First Bancshares, with significant changes in holdings from firms like Millennium Management, which increased its stake by 1,532.5% in the first quarter.

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share on Sunday, August 31st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th.

Business First Bancshares has a payout ratio of 19.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.96 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.56 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.9%.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 3.5%

Shares of BFST stock traded down $0.83 on Friday, hitting $22.92. The stock had a trading volume of 139,908 shares, compared to its average volume of 91,774. The company's 50 day moving average price is $24.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $24.76. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $20.07 and a 1 year high of $30.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.55, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $680.49 million, a P/E ratio of 9.13 and a beta of 0.85.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 28th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.01. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.47% and a return on equity of 11.50%. The company had revenue of $103.01 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.94 million. Analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.72 earnings per share for the current year.

About Business First Bancshares

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.