Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Boosts Stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 30.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,192 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 744 shares during the quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of BANF. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 39.1% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 37,107 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,906,000 after acquiring an additional 10,425 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,276 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $10,659,000 after purchasing an additional 29,050 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in BancFirst by 33.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 129,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,599,000 after buying an additional 32,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58,016 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price 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.

Insider Activity

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $602,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,480. The trade was a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,994,350 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Price Performance

BANF stock opened at $109.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $117.43 and a 200-day moving average of $115.28. BancFirst Co. has a 12-month low of $81.21 and a 12-month high of $132.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 1.03.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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, equities analysts expect that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

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.