Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) Declares $0.14 Quarterly Dividend

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 25th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share on Friday, May 31st. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th.

Business First Bancshares has raised its dividend payment by an average of 7.7% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Business First Bancshares has a payout ratio of 21.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.48 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 22.6%.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Business First Bancshares stock traded down $1.11 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $20.66. 64,611 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 42,395. The firm has a market capitalization of $527.66 million, a PE ratio of 8.13 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $21.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $21.65. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Business First Bancshares has a one year low of $13.05 and a one year high of $25.57.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 12.99% and a net margin of 17.08%. The business had revenue of $101.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 2.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on BFST shares. Raymond James lowered Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Piper Sandler increased their target price on Business First Bancshares from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 24th. Finally, DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a report on Monday, January 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Business First Bancshares presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $23.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.37, for a total transaction of $156,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 24,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,725.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 6.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.