Norges Bank Takes Position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 227,418 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $26,649,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in BancFirst during the fourth quarter worth approximately $11,958,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in BancFirst by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,187,000 after purchasing an additional 96,483 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in BancFirst by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,823,000 after purchasing an additional 58,016 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in BancFirst by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 175,457 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,560,000 after purchasing an additional 46,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BancFirst by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $270,241,000 after purchasing an additional 44,563 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 transaction of $1,191,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 214,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $122.06, for a total transaction of $610,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,317,421.84. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. Insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday.

BancFirst Price Performance

BANF opened at $100.43 on Monday. BancFirst Co. has a twelve month low of $81.21 and a twelve 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 firm has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.87.

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

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 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 1.83%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. BancFirst’s payout ratio is currently 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.