BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Update

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a significant drop in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 563,800 shares, a drop of 5.5% from the October 15th total of 596,800 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 113,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.0 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In related news, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 1,414 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total transaction of $149,290.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 223,402 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,586,783.16. This trade represents a 0.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Randy Foraker sold 2,870 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.10, for a total value of $307,377.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 157,107 shares of company stock worth $17,847,219. 33.89% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new position in BancFirst during the third quarter worth $38,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in BancFirst by 33.9% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in BancFirst by 64.8% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after buying an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its stake in BancFirst by 56.8% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 842 shares of the bank’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in BancFirst during the second quarter worth $77,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BANF opened at $121.47 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $110.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $99.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.53 and a beta of 1.02. BancFirst has a 1 year low of $81.21 and a 1 year high of $129.00.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $163.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.70 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th were paid a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.51%. BancFirst’s payout ratio is currently 29.58%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BANF. StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st.

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.