Business First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 on August 31st

Business First Bancshares, Inc. (NASDAQ:BFST) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 23rd. Stockholders of record on Saturday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share on Monday, August 31st. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th.

Business First Bancshares has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Business First Bancshares has a dividend payout ratio of 20.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Business First Bancshares to earn $3.27 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 18.3%.

Business First Bancshares Stock Performance

Shares of BFST stock opened at $31.16 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.39 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.24. Business First Bancshares has a 52 week low of $22.56 and a 52 week high of $31.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.02 billion, a PE ratio of 11.05 and a beta of 0.78.

Business First Bancshares (NASDAQ:BFST) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The company reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $91.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.31 million. Business First Bancshares had a net margin of 17.07% and a return on equity of 11.31%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Business First Bancshares will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Business First Bancshares Company Profile

Business First Bancshares, Inc is the bank holding company for Business First Bank, a regional community bank headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. Through its wholly owned subsidiary, the company provides a full suite of commercial and retail banking services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals and individual consumers. Business First Bancshares operates under a community-focused model, emphasizing personalized service, local decision-making and relationship banking.

The company’s primary business activities include commercial lending, treasury and cash management, and deposit services.