Business First Bancshares (BFST) to Release Earnings on Thursday

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) is scheduled to release its earnings data after the market closes on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect Business First Bancshares to post earnings of $0.57 per share for the quarter. Persons interested in registering for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $101.08 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.40 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 18.22% and a return on equity of 13.28%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect Business First Bancshares to post $2 EPS for the current fiscal year and $2 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:BFST opened at $21.94 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.01, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $21.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $21.63. The firm has a market cap of $560.35 million, a PE ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.94. Business First Bancshares has a 12-month low of $13.05 and a 12-month high of $25.57.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BFST. Raymond James lowered shares of Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 5th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Business First Bancshares in a report on Monday, January 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Business First Bancshares from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 24th. One 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.33.

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.