Bank of New York Mellon Corp Cuts Stock Position in BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in shares of BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF) by 4.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 178,732 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,366 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $19,637,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 779.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after purchasing an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 211.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 582 shares of the bank’s stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the fourth quarter worth $135,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of BancFirst by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $197,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in BancFirst in the fourth quarter valued at $203,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.12, for a total value of $620,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $744,720. The trade was a 45.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Randy Foraker sold 4,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.61, for a total value of $506,440.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 32.43% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on BANF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BancFirst from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday.

BancFirst Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ BANF opened at $135.30 on Friday. BancFirst Corporation has a 1 year low of $95.78 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The company has a market capitalization of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50-day moving average of $125.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.51.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $169.30 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $163.62 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 24.05%. On average, analysts forecast that BancFirst Corporation will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.36%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.84%.

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.