Short Interest in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Expands By 5.7%

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a significant growth in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 361,700 shares, a growth of 5.7% from the May 31st total of 342,100 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 65,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BancFirst news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 5,496 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total transaction of $506,896.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $988,152.22. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP Kevin Lawrence sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $900,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $900,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 5,496 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total value of $506,896.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,152.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 16,000 shares of company stock worth $1,453,360. Corporate insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANF. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in shares of BancFirst by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 3,869 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp grew its position in BancFirst by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 12,682 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst by 5.2% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 3,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BancFirst Price Performance

NASDAQ:BANF opened at $86.60 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.15 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $88.70. BancFirst has a 1 year low of $79.99 and a 1 year high of $104.00.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.13. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 24.65%. The company had revenue of $151.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $147.75 million. Equities analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 5.8 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.10%.

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.