Business First Bancshares (BFST) Set to Announce Earnings on Thursday

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) is scheduled to be issuing its quarterly earnings data after the market closes on Thursday, April 25th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.57 per share for the quarter. Parties that wish to register for the company’s conference call can do so using this link.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $101.08 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.40 million. Business First Bancshares had a return on equity of 13.28% and a net margin of 18.22%. During the same period last year, the business 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. Business First Bancshares has a 52-week low of $13.05 and a 52-week high of $25.57. The stock has a market cap of $560.35 million, a PE ratio of 8.44 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01. The business has a fifty day moving average of $21.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $21.63.

Insider Activity

In other Business First Bancshares news, insider Warren Mcdonald sold 7,000 shares of the business’s 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 owns 24,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,725.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 6.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.