Curi RMB Capital LLC Cuts Position in Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST)

Curi RMB Capital LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) by 19.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 296,524 shares of the company’s stock after selling 73,476 shares during the quarter. Curi RMB Capital LLC’s holdings in Business First Bancshares were worth $7,612,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC purchased a new stake in Business First Bancshares during the 2nd quarter worth $106,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Business First Bancshares during the second quarter worth about $116,000. KG&L Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Business First Bancshares in the third quarter worth about $227,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in shares of Business First Bancshares by 75.8% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 11,608 shares of the company’s stock valued at $259,000 after buying an additional 5,004 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Argent Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Business First Bancshares by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 12,949 shares of the company’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 497 shares during the period. 47.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.68, for a total transaction of $37,020.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 19,095 shares in the company, valued at $471,264.60. This trade represents a 7.28 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Joseph Vernon Johnson sold 3,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total transaction of $105,987.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 203,077 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,407,940.51. The trade was a 1.92 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,980 shares of company stock valued at $366,992 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 6.45% of the company’s stock.

Business First Bancshares Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Business First Bancshares stock opened at $28.71 on Friday. Business First Bancshares, Inc. has a 1-year low of $18.97 and a 1-year high of $30.30. The company has a market capitalization of $848.09 million, a PE ratio of 12.32 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business has a 50-day moving average of $25.84 and a 200-day moving average of $23.36.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The company reported $0.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.57 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $113.52 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $65.24 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 11.57% and a net margin of 14.92%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Business First Bancshares, Inc. will post 2.31 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Business First Bancshares Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, November 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.95%. Business First Bancshares’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.14%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Hovde Group cut Business First Bancshares from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $31.50 in a report on Wednesday.

Business First Bancshares 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.