Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Increases Stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 35.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,286 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,665 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in BANF. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of BancFirst by 33.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of BancFirst by 31.5% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 9,600 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,010,000 after acquiring an additional 2,300 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its stake in BancFirst by 32.7% in the 3rd quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 11,306 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,189,000 after buying an additional 2,783 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in BancFirst by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 4,237 shares of the bank’s stock worth $446,000 after buying an additional 1,100 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 28,002 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,947,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.97, for a total transaction of $589,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $707,820. This represents a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 33,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,174,500. The trade was a 10.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,000 shares of company stock worth $3,500,350 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on BANF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

BancFirst Stock Up 2.2 %

Shares of BancFirst stock opened at $119.36 on Friday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $81.21 and a 1 year high of $132.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $118.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.71. The stock has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.05.

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

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.