Short Interest in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Decreases By 10.3%

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a large decrease in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 518,400 shares, a decrease of 10.3% from the January 15th total of 577,900 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 113,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 4.6 days. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. DA Davidson lifted their price target on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th.

BancFirst Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ BANF opened at $119.44 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55 and a beta of 1.05. BancFirst has a twelve month low of $81.21 and a twelve month high of $132.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $119.53 and its 200 day moving average is $113.60.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 23.52%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.54%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Insider Transactions at BancFirst

In other news, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,500. This represents a 10.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.06, for a total transaction of $610,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,564 shares in the company, valued at $5,317,421.84. This trade represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 43,607 shares of company stock valued at $5,377,543. 33.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 39.1% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 37,107 shares of the bank’s stock worth $3,906,000 after purchasing an additional 10,425 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of BancFirst by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,276 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,659,000 after buying an additional 29,050 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 33.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 129,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,599,000 after buying an additional 32,636 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 13.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,823,000 after acquiring an additional 58,016 shares during the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BancFirst Company Profile

BancFirst Corporation operates as the bank holding company for BancFirst that provides a range of commercial banking services to retail customers, and small to medium-sized businesses. The company operates through BancFirst Metropolitan Banks, BancFirst Community Banks, Pegasus, Worthington, and Other Financial Services segments.