Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. Invests $501,000 in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 20,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $501,000. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. owned about 0.08% of Business First Bancshares at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of BFST. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 272,038 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,619,000 after buying an additional 13,611 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 45.8% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 9,729 shares of the company’s stock worth $237,000 after buying an additional 3,055 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 20.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 173,383 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,218,000 after purchasing an additional 29,982 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 9.8% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 10,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $253,000 after purchasing an additional 925 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Business First Bancshares by 1.9% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 50,248 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,223,000 after purchasing an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Business First Bancshares

In other news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $22.37, for a total value of $156,590.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 24,306 shares in the company, valued at $543,725.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

BFST has been the topic of several analyst reports. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on Business First Bancshares from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. DA Davidson reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a research report on Monday, January 15th. Finally, Raymond James downgraded Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $23.33.

Business First Bancshares Price Performance

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock opened at $20.20 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $21.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $21.55. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 52 week low of $13.05 and a 52 week high of $25.57. The company has a market capitalization of $515.91 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.77 and a beta of 0.94. 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 (NASDAQ:BFST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.06. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 18.22%. The business had revenue of $101.08 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.66 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th were issued a $0.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.77%. Business First Bancshares’s payout ratio is 21.54%.

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.