Cummings George W. III 4

What Happened
George W. Cummings III, a director of Business First Bancshares, sold a total of 20,000 shares in two open-market transactions: 10,000 shares on July 30, 2026 at $32.08 each ($320,800) and 10,000 shares on July 31, 2026 at $31.50 each ($315,000), for aggregate proceeds of approximately $635,800. These were outright sales (transaction code S), not purchases or option exercises.

Key Details

• Transaction dates and prices:
  • 2026-07-30: 10,000 shares @ $32.08 = $320,800
  • 2026-07-31: 10,000 shares @ $31.50 = $315,000
• Total shares sold: 20,000; total proceeds ≈ $635,800.
• Transaction type: Open-market sales (code S).
• Shares owned after transaction: Not specified in the provided filing excerpt.
• Filing date: Form 4 filed 2026-07-31 (reporting period 2026-07-30); filing appears timely (next-day filing).
• Notable footnote (F1): The reporting person received time‑based restricted stock units (RSUs) on June 25, 2026 under the 2024 Equity Incentive Plan. These RSUs are unvested, will fully vest on June 25, 2027, are economically equivalent to one share each, and are subject to forfeiture under certain conditions.

Context
These transactions are sales by a company director. Sales by insiders can be routine (for diversification, liquidity, or tax reasons) and do not necessarily signal negative views about the company; purchases tend to be more directly informative about insider confidence. The filing shows no indication of a 10b5-1 plan or tax-withholding share forfeitures in the provided excerpt.