Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday after Stephens lowered their price target on the stock from $34.00 to $32.00. The stock had previously closed at $23.64, but opened at $22.28. Stephens currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Business First Bancshares shares last traded at $22.65, with a volume of 13,507 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. Hovde Group upgraded Business First Bancshares from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.50 to $33.00 in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Raymond James cut their price objective on Business First Bancshares from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 25th.

Insider Activity at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $25.46 per share, for a total transaction of $38,190.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 264,285 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,728,696.10. This trade represents a 0.57 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Business First Bancshares

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Business First Bancshares by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,618,636 shares of the company's stock worth $41,599,000 after purchasing an additional 245,491 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 798,114 shares of the company's stock valued at $20,512,000 after buying an additional 83,664 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 111.1% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 623,464 shares of the company's stock worth $16,023,000 after purchasing an additional 328,189 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 607,810 shares of the company's stock valued at $15,624,000 after buying an additional 46,492 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 538,402 shares of the company's stock valued at $13,837,000 after purchasing an additional 88,546 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.35% of the company's stock.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 1.6 %

The firm has a market cap of $682.23 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.21 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $23.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.87.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.61 by $0.04. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.88% and a net margin of 14.19%. The firm had revenue of $79.21 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $77.54 million. As a group, research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.72 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, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. Business First Bancshares's dividend payout ratio is presently 23.05%.

Business First Bancshares Company 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.