Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 3,972 Shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 3.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 105,248 shares of the bank's stock after acquiring an additional 3,972 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.32% of BancFirst worth $12,333,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 33.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its stake in BancFirst by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank's stock valued at $136,000 after buying an additional 536 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its holdings in BancFirst by 83.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,464 shares of the bank's stock worth $154,000 after acquiring an additional 666 shares during the period. Retirement Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in BancFirst during the 3rd quarter worth $200,000. Finally, Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in BancFirst during the third quarter valued at about $210,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.97, for a total value of $589,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $707,820. The trade was a 45.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 29,000 shares of company stock worth $3,500,350. 33.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock 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 report on Friday, January 24th.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BANF traded down $0.90 on Monday, hitting $118.46. 73,231 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 111,746. The company's 50 day moving average price is $118.50 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38 and a beta of 1.05. 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 Co. has a one year low of $81.21 and a one year high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts expect that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current 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.