BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Update

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the recipient of a large decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 563,800 shares, a decrease of 5.5% from the October 15th total of 596,800 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 113,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.0 days.

BancFirst Price Performance

Shares of BANF stock opened at $121.47 on Wednesday. BancFirst has a 1-year low of $81.21 and a 1-year high of $129.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $110.27 and its 200 day moving average is $99.98. The company has a market cap of $4.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.53 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

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

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 30th were issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.58%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $3,075,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 249,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,640,038. This trade represents a 9.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 10,543 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.58, for a total value of $1,334,532.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 1,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $197,971.12. This represents a 87.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 157,107 shares of company stock worth $17,847,219. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BancFirst

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 50.8% in the third quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,702,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,936,000 after acquiring an additional 573,224 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 1.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,160 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,888,000 after acquiring an additional 16,664 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 12.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,187,000 after acquiring an additional 96,483 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 13.7% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 16.1% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 192,320 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,242,000 after acquiring an additional 26,707 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on BANF. DA Davidson raised 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. StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

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.