Victory Capital Management Inc. Sells 1,500 Shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Victory Capital Management Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 27,500 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Business First Bancshares were worth $706,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Argent Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the second quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC raised its position in Business First Bancshares by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. ELCO Management Co. LLC now owns 20,307 shares of the company’s stock worth $442,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in Business First Bancshares by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 21,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $478,000 after buying an additional 708 shares in the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Business First Bancshares by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC now owns 41,849 shares of the company’s stock valued at $911,000 after buying an additional 1,170 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LSV Asset Management increased its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 49,570 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the period. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Business First Bancshares Trading Down 0.4 %

BFST opened at $28.72 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $26.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.90. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $18.97 and a fifty-two week high of $30.30. The company has a market cap of $848.42 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.38 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.57 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 14.92% and a return on equity of 11.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other news, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, October 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $105,987.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,407,940.51. This represents a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of Business First Bancshares stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at $471,264.60. The trade was a 7.28 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group lowered Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $31.50 in a research note on Wednesday, November 13th.

Business First Bancshares 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.