BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 495,100 shares, a decrease of 12.2% from the October 31st total of 563,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 120,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days. Currently, 2.4% of the shares of the company are sold short.

BancFirst Trading Up 0.9 %

NASDAQ BANF traded up $1.18 on Tuesday, reaching $127.46. The company had a trading volume of 80,970 shares, compared to its average volume of 108,235. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. BancFirst has a 52 week low of $81.21 and a 52 week high of $132.29. The stock has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 1.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $113.79 and its 200-day moving average is $102.19.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.18. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The firm had revenue of $163.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. Equities analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on BANF shares. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $3,075,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 249,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,640,038. This represents a 9.12 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Main Street Banking Partners L sold 778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, October 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $85,580.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,941,772 shares in the company, valued at approximately $543,594,920. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 159,054 shares of company stock valued at $18,507,146. 33.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BANF. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in BancFirst by 9.3% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,104 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $802,000 after purchasing an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its stake in BancFirst by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,296 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 9,936 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 367.6% in the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,299 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $640,000 after purchasing an additional 5,738 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 180.4% in the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,433 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 5,460 shares during the period. Finally, Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in BancFirst by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $436,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. 51.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About BancFirst

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.