Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.17 EPS

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.49 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST remained flat at $25.44 during mid-day trading on Thursday. The company had a trading volume of 176,476 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,755. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $751.50 million, a PE ratio of 10.97 and a beta of 1.00. Business First Bancshares has a 1 year low of $18.97 and a 1 year high of $30.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $26.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.40.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.33, for a total value of $65,825.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 183,057 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,819,890.81. This trade represents a 1.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders sold 12,480 shares of company stock worth $329,972 in the last three months. 6.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James upgraded Business First Bancshares from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Hovde Group downgraded Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th.

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.