Positive News SentimentPositive NewsNASDAQ:BFST Business First Bancshares (BFST) Stock Price, News & Analysis $31.48 +0.06 (+0.19%) Closing price 09/14/2026 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$31.48 0.00 (0.00%) As of 09/14/2026 07:30 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Massive. Learn more. Add Compare Share Share Stock Analysis Stock AnalysisAnalyst ForecastsChartCompetitorsDividendEarningsFinancialsInsider TradesNews and TrendsOptions ChainOwnershipSEC FilingsShort Interest About Business First Bancshares Stock (NASDAQ:BFST) View Price History Chart DataSkip Price History Chart 1 Day 5 Days 30 Days 90 Days 1 Year Advanced 1 Day 1 Day 5 Days 30 Days 90 Days 1 Year Advanced Show volume Show extended hours Get BFST alerts:Sign Up Key Stats Today's Range$31.29▼$31.7350-Day Range$29.64▼$32.2852-Week Range$22.56▼$32.53Volume219,069 shsAverage Volume180,979 shsMarket Capitalization$1.02 billionP/E Ratio11.16Dividend Yield1.91%Price Target$34.75Consensus RatingBuy Company Overview Business First Bancshares, Inc. is a bank holding company headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through its subsidiary, b1BANK, the company provides banking and financial services to businesses, professionals, individuals and public-sector organizations. b1BANK offers commercial and industrial lending, commercial real estate financing, residential and consumer loans, deposit accounts, treasury management and other cash-management services. The bank also provides wealth management, trust and investment-related services designed to support its business and individual customers. Founded in 2006, Business First has expanded its banking operations across Louisiana and into neighboring markets, including Mississippi and Texas. Its strategy emphasizes relationship-based banking and serving small and middle-market businesses, along with retail customers and community organizations. Jude Melville serves as the company’s president and chief executive officer.AI Generated. May Contain Errors. Read More Business First Bancshares Stock Analysis - MarketRank™See Top-Rated MarketRank™ Stocks91st Percentile Overall ScoreBFST MarketRank™: Business First Bancshares scored higher than 91% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 138th out of 851 stocks in the finance sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation. Analyst's Opinion3.1 / 5Analyst RatingBuy Consensus RatingBusiness 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 PotentialBusiness First Bancshares has a consensus price target of $34.75, representing about 10.4% upside from its current price of $31.48.Amount of Analyst CoverageBusiness 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 and Valuation2.5 / 5Proj. Earnings Growth8.97% Earnings GrowthEarnings for Business First Bancshares are expected to grow by 8.97% in the coming year, from $3.01 to $3.28 per share.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the MarketThe P/E ratio of Business First Bancshares is 11.16, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.00.Price to Earnings Ratio vs. SectorThe P/E ratio of Business First Bancshares is 11.16, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Finance sector average P/E ratio of about 25.54.Price to Book Value per Share RatioBusiness First Bancshares has a P/B Ratio of 1.13. 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. Short Interest3.0 / 5Short Interest LevelHealthy Percentage of Shares Shorted3.30% of the float of Business First Bancshares has been sold short.Short Interest Ratio / Days to CoverBusiness First Bancshares has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 5.45.Change versus previous monthShort interest in Business First Bancshares has recently decreased by 4.27%, indicating that investor sentiment is improving. Dividend2.5 / 5Dividend StrengthModerate Dividend YieldBusiness First Bancshares pays a meaningful dividend of 1.91%, higher than the bottom 25% of all stocks that pay dividends.Dividend GrowthBusiness First Bancshares has only been increasing its dividend for 2 years.Dividend CoverageThe dividend payout ratio of Business First Bancshares is 21.28%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.Dividend SustainabilityBased on earnings estimates, Business First Bancshares will have a dividend payout ratio of 18.29% 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 and Social Media3.6 / 5News Sentiment1.82 News SentimentBusiness First Bancshares has a news sentiment score of 1.82. 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 is a higher news sentiment than the 0.87 average news sentiment score of Finance companies.News Coverage This WeekMarketBeat has tracked 2 news articles for Business First Bancshares this week, compared to 3 articles on an average week.Search Interest2 people have searched for BFST on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 100% compared to the previous 30 days. Company Ownership2.2 / 5Insider TradingSelling Shares Insider Buying vs. Insider SellingIn the past three months, Business First Bancshares insiders have sold 4,134.26% more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $47,415.00 in company stock and sold $2,007,675.00 in company stock.Percentage Held by Insiders5.67% of the stock of Business First Bancshares is held by insiders.Percentage Held by Institutions47.35% 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. Receive BFST Stock News and Ratings via Email Sign-up to receive the latest news and ratings for Business First Bancshares and its competitors with MarketBeat's FREE daily newsletter. 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BFST Stock News HeadlinesRegional Bank Director Liquidates 3,235 Shares, Valued at $102,873August 31, 2026 | fool.comGeorge Cummings III Sells 10,000 Shares of Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) StockAugust 26, 2026 | insidertrades.comLouis Navellier: My #1 AI stock for 2026 (name & ticker inside)Louis Navellier's Stock Grader system helped him flag Nvidia before its 82,000% run and has identified the top S&P 500 stock for 12 years running—and today, he's giving away his #1 AI stock pick for 2026, free. This company's sales are up 28% year over year, it holds over 30,000 patents in wireless and video technology, and it just earned an A-rating in his proprietary Stock Grader system that has cost him $9 million to build and maintain.September 15 at 1:00 AM | InvestorPlace (Ad)What This Business First Insider Sale Signals After a 34% Stock RunAugust 2, 2026 | fool.comBusiness First Bancshares Inc (BFST) Q2 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Loan Production ...July 24, 2026 | finance.yahoo.comBusiness First Bancshares Q2 2026 EarningsJuly 24, 2026 | 247wallst.comBusiness First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) Q2 2026 Earnings Call TranscriptJuly 23, 2026 | seekingalpha.comBusiness First Bancshares, Inc. 2026 Q2 - Results - Earnings Call PresentationJuly 23, 2026 | seekingalpha.comSee More Headlines BFST Stock Analysis - Frequently Asked Questions How have BFST shares performed this year? Business First Bancshares' stock was trading at $26.14 on January 1st, 2026. Since then, BFST stock has increased by 20.4% and is now trading at $31.48. How were Business First Bancshares' earnings last quarter? Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July, 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.01. The business earned $91.81 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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. How will Business First Bancshares' stock buyback program work? Business First Bancshares' board authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th 2025, which permits the company to buy back $30,000,000 in outstanding shares, according to EventVestor. This means that the company could buy up to 4.2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued. Who are Business First Bancshares' major shareholders? Business First Bancshares' top institutional investors 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. How do I buy shares of Business First Bancshares? 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. What other stocks do shareholders of Business First Bancshares own? 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 Earnings7/23/2026Ex-Dividend for 8/31 Dividend8/14/2026Record date for 8/31 Dividend8/15/2026Dividend Payable8/31/2026Today9/15/2026Next Earnings (Estimated)10/22/2026Fiscal Year End12/31/2026Get Stock Alerts Health Indicator TradeSmith's Health IndicatorA long-term volatility-based measure designed for securities held 12 months or longer.Green: Strong and healthy uptrend with normal pullbacks.Yellow: Significant pullback but still within expected volatility.Red: Dropped beyond expected volatility; considered unhealthy. Green Zone (9m+) 1-Year History Sep 25 Dec 25 Mar 26 Jun 26 Sep 26 BFST's financial health is in the Green zone, according to TradeSmith. BFST has been in this zone for over 9 months. Industry, Sector and Symbol Stock ExchangeNASDAQ SectorFinance Industry Banks Sub-IndustryRegional Banks Current SymbolNASDAQ:BFST CIK1624322 Webwww.b1bank.com Phone(225) 248-7600Fax225-248-7650Employees842Year FoundedN/APrice Target and Rating Average Price Target for Business First Bancshares$34.75 High Price Target$37.00 Low Price Target$31.00 Potential Upside/Downside+10.4%Consensus RatingBuy Rating Score (0-4)3.00 Research Coverage5 Analysts Profitability EPS (Trailing Twelve Months)$2.82 Trailing P/E Ratio11.16 Forward P/E Ratio10.46 P/E GrowthN/ANet Income$87.86 million Net Margins17.07% Pretax Margin21.67% Return on Equity11.03% Return on Assets1.13% Debt Debt-to-Equity Ratio0.60 Current Ratio1.01 Quick Ratio1.01 Sales & Book Value Annual Sales$344.00 million Price / Sales2.98 Cash Flow$3.15 per share Price / Cash Flow9.99 Book Value$27.86 per share Price / Book1.13Miscellaneous Outstanding Shares32,550,000Free Float30,704,000Market Cap$1.02 billion OptionableOptionable Beta0.77 Options Trading Made Easy - Download NowLearn the basics of options trading and how to use them to boost returns and manage risk with this free report from MarketBeat. Click the link below to get your free copy.Get This Free Report This page (NASDAQ:BFST) was last updated on 9/15/2026 by MarketBeat.com Staff. 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