Fmr LLC Boosts Stock Holdings in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 11.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 66,533 shares of the bank's stock after buying an additional 6,599 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned approximately 0.20% of BancFirst worth $7,003,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in shares of BancFirst during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in BancFirst by 33.9% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in BancFirst by 64.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst in the 2nd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst in the 3rd quarter valued at about $105,000. 51.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 5,601 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total value of $617,286.21. Following the sale, the director now owns 208,723 shares in the company, valued at $23,003,361.83. This represents a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 10,543 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.58, for a total transaction of $1,334,532.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,564 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $197,971.12. This trade represents a 87.08 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,150 shares of company stock valued at $15,442,825. 33.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BancFirst Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ BANF traded down $1.25 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $125.38. 70,001 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 85,081. BancFirst Co. has a 12 month low of $81.21 and a 12 month high of $132.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $117.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $104.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36 and a beta of 1.05.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $163.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $156.70 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that BancFirst Co. will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.47%. BancFirst's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BANF. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

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.