Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $10.66 Million Holdings in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 40.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 101,276 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 29,050 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.31% of BancFirst worth $10,659,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management grew its position in shares of BancFirst by 50.8% in the third quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,702,082 shares of the bank's stock valued at $177,936,000 after purchasing an additional 573,224 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in BancFirst by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,160 shares of the bank's stock valued at $87,888,000 after purchasing an additional 16,664 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in BancFirst by 12.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank's stock valued at $92,187,000 after buying an additional 96,483 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 58,016 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 16.1% during the third 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company's stock.

BancFirst Stock Performance

BANF stock traded down $2.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $117.18. The stock had a trading volume of 119,338 shares, compared to its average volume of 86,088. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84 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. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $120.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $107.45. BancFirst Co. has a 52 week low of $81.21 and a 52 week high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $156.70 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that BancFirst Co. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.57%. BancFirst's payout ratio is presently 29.58%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BancFirst news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 10,543 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,564 shares in the company, valued at $197,971.12. The trade was a 87.08 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Leslie Jeannine Rainbolt sold 2,152 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.47, for a total transaction of $237,731.44. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 4,942,550 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $546,003,498.50. The trade was a 0.04 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 129,150 shares of company stock worth $15,442,825 in the last 90 days. 33.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

BancFirst 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.