Wesbanco Bank Inc. Has $364,000 Stock Position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 13.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,110 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of BANF. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in BancFirst by 25.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 21,122 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,852,000 after purchasing an additional 4,324 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 16.0% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,836 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $249,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its holdings in BancFirst by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in BancFirst by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 31,907 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,798,000 after buying an additional 2,196 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in BancFirst during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $356,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.50, for a total value of $567,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 306,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,833,604. This trade represents a 1.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Main Street Banking Partners L sold 24,421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.78, for a total value of $2,705,358.38. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 4,910,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,929,800. This trade represents a 0.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 118,869 shares of company stock valued at $14,309,535. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

BANF has been the subject of several recent research reports. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

BancFirst Trading Down 2.2 %

BANF opened at $118.63 on Friday. BancFirst Co. has a twelve month low of $81.21 and a twelve month high of $132.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $121.47 and a 200-day moving average of $111.33. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 1.06.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share 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 13.92%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that BancFirst Co. will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.55%. BancFirst’s payout ratio is currently 29.58%.

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.