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

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.14 per share on Saturday, August 31st. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 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 dividend payout ratio of 21.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $2.65 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 21.1%.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BFST traded up $1.00 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $26.22. 130,632 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 90,278. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $16.92 and a 52 week high of $26.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $21.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $21.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market cap of $668.61 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.32 and a beta of 0.98.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The company reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.13. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 15.90% and a return on equity of 12.36%. The firm had revenue of $112.05 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Business First Bancshares will post 2.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Business First Bancshares

In other Business First Bancshares news, Director Rick D. Day purchased 1,800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $20.30 per share, for a total transaction of $36,540.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 262,785 shares in the company, valued at $5,334,535.50. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Hovde Group lifted their price target on Business First Bancshares from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.00.

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.