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

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, October 24th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share on Saturday, November 30th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th.

Business First Bancshares has increased its dividend by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years. Business First Bancshares has a payout ratio of 21.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.60 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 21.5%.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST traded up $0.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $25.97. The company had a trading volume of 75,196 shares, compared to its average volume of 61,248. The firm has a market capitalization of $662.29 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.22 and a beta of 0.97. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $24.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $22.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Business First Bancshares has a fifty-two week low of $18.43 and a fifty-two week high of $26.93.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.19% and a net margin of 15.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group increased their price objective on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Business First Bancshares has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $26.67.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,532 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.71, for a total value of $39,387.72. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 20,595 shares in the company, valued at $529,497.45. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Business First Bancshares news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,532 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.71, for a total transaction of $39,387.72. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 20,595 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $529,497.45. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Saundra Strong sold 6,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.32, for a total value of $159,516.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 11,275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $285,483. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 14,906 shares of company stock valued at $377,392 in the last ninety days. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.