Denali Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Denali Advisors LLC increased its stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 58.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 24,800 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 9,100 shares during the period. Denali Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of BancFirst worth $2,906,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank's stock worth $92,187,000 after buying an additional 96,483 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 58,016 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 16.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 192,320 shares of the bank's stock worth $20,242,000 after buying an additional 26,707 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 33.8% in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,248 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,333,000 after buying an additional 3,972 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company's stock.

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Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total value of $506,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,174,500. This trade represents a 10.81 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 29,000 shares of company stock valued at $3,500,350 in the last ninety days. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on BANF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com downgraded BancFirst from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

BancFirst Stock Up 2.2 %

BANF traded up $2.61 during trading on Friday, hitting $119.36. 122,320 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 112,890. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $118.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $114.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.53 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. BancFirst Co. has a 12-month low of $81.21 and a 12-month high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts predict that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.