BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Business First Bancshares, Inc. (BFST) on Thursday reported first-quarter earnings of $13.6 million.

The bank, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said it had earnings of 48 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, were 50 cents per share.

The results fell short of Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 57 cents per share.

The company posted revenue of $105.4 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $60.9 million, which also missed Street forecasts.

Business First shares have declined 12% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $21.77, a climb of 42% in the last 12 months.

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