BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Update

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 739,500 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 597,600 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 114,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days.

BancFirst Stock Up 2.9 %

NASDAQ BANF traded up $3.20 during trading on Monday, hitting $112.74. The stock had a trading volume of 99,534 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,770. The company has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 0.82. BancFirst has a 12 month low of $81.56 and a 12 month high of $132.29. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $111.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $115.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.09. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The business had revenue of $164.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.72 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.84%.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.58, for a total value of $602,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,480. The trade was a 45.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 779.4% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the bank’s stock worth $65,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 211.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 582 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in BancFirst by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 862 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in BancFirst during the fourth quarter worth about $135,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th.

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.