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

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 739,500 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 597,600 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the company's shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 114,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 6.4 days.

BancFirst Price Performance

BANF traded down $0.20 during trading on Thursday, reaching $118.58. 6,107 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 101,702. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. BancFirst has a 12-month low of $81.56 and a 12-month high of $132.29. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $115.94. The company has a market cap of $3.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.40 and a beta of 0.82.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.09. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The business had revenue of $164.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.72 million. On average, equities analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. BancFirst's payout ratio is 27.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.58, for a total value of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $723,480. This represents a 45.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANF. Norges Bank bought a new position in BancFirst in the 4th quarter worth about $26,649,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in BancFirst in the 4th quarter worth about $11,958,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in BancFirst by 34,094.7% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 63,944 shares of the bank's stock worth $7,026,000 after acquiring an additional 63,757 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in BancFirst by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank's stock worth $50,823,000 after acquiring an additional 58,016 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in BancFirst by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 175,457 shares of the bank's stock worth $20,560,000 after acquiring an additional 46,253 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of BancFirst from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday.

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.