BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Update

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 625,000 shares, an increase of 41.3% from the September 15th total of 442,200 shares. Approximately 3.1% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 120,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of BancFirst stock opened at $106.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. BancFirst has a 52 week low of $79.99 and a 52 week high of $111.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $103.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.79 and a beta of 1.03.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $153.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.75 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 23.46%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.09 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This is a boost from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 30th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.73%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 30.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.50, for a total transaction of $537,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 326,904 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,142,180. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director William Scott Martin sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.50, for a total value of $537,500.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 326,904 shares in the company, valued at $35,142,180. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.50, for a total value of $107,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 1,214 shares in the company, valued at approximately $130,505. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,564 shares of company stock valued at $7,150,517 in the last quarter. Insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BANF. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management grew its holdings in BancFirst by 50.8% during the third quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,702,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,936,000 after purchasing an additional 573,224 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in BancFirst during the first quarter worth about $4,274,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in BancFirst by 499.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 57,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,053,000 after purchasing an additional 48,006 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in BancFirst by 1.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,160 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,888,000 after acquiring an additional 16,664 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BancFirst by 255.9% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 15,750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 11,324 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on BancFirst from $84.50 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th.

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.