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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on BANF. DA Davidson boosted their target price on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BANF traded down $1.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $126.28. 55,017 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 108,703. The company's 50-day moving average price is $113.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.85. BancFirst has a 1-year low of $81.21 and a 1-year high of $132.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.18. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The business had revenue of $163.67 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.46%. BancFirst's payout ratio is 29.58%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 10,543 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.58, for a total value of $1,334,532.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,564 shares in the company, valued at approximately $197,971.12. This represents a 87.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 24,607 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $3,068,492.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 224,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,995,025.30. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 160,468 shares of company stock worth $18,656,436 in the last quarter. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in BancFirst by 9.3% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 9,104 shares of the bank's stock valued at $802,000 after acquiring an additional 776 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in BancFirst by 87.5% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,296 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 9,936 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its stake in BancFirst by 367.6% during the second quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 7,299 shares of the bank's stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 5,738 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 180.4% during the second quarter. Curated Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,433 shares of the bank's stock valued at $213,000 after purchasing an additional 5,460 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversified Trust Co grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 2.6% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,972 shares of the bank's stock valued at $436,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company's stock.

BancFirst Company Profile

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.