BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 1,391 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.01, for a total value of $146,068.91. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 215,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,579,670.24. This represents a 0.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 15th. The shares were 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 owns 249,106 shares in the company, valued at $30,640,038. This represents a 9.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 160,468 shares of company stock worth $18,656,436. Corporate insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management increased 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 valued at $177,936,000 after buying an additional 573,224 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in BancFirst in the third quarter valued at $112,370,000. State Street Corp increased its holdings in BancFirst by 12.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,187,000 after buying an additional 96,483 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $50,823,000 after buying an additional 58,016 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in BancFirst by 499.6% in the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 57,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,053,000 after buying an additional 48,006 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Trading Up 0.5 %

NASDAQ BANF traded up $0.61 on Monday, reaching $126.89. The stock had a trading volume of 19,722 shares, compared to its average volume of 84,999. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.02. 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 12-month low of $81.21 and a 12-month high of $132.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $113.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $101.93.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $163.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.70 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. DA Davidson upped their price objective on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com raised BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

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.