Quest Partners LLC Decreases Stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Quest Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 90.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 773 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 7,569 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in BANF. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BancFirst in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of BancFirst by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in BancFirst by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares during the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in BancFirst in the 2nd quarter valued at about $77,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in BancFirst in the 3rd quarter valued at about $105,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

BancFirst Stock Down 0.8 %

BANF stock opened at $126.28 on Friday. BancFirst Co. has a twelve month low of $81.21 and a twelve month high of $132.29. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.02. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $113.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $101.53.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.18. The company had revenue of $163.67 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $156.70 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. On average, equities research analysts predict that BancFirst Co. will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.46%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s payout ratio is currently 29.58%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 10,543 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 owns 1,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $197,971.12. This trade represents a 87.08 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 24,607 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.70, for a total value of $3,068,492.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 224,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,995,025.30. This trade represents a 9.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 160,468 shares of company stock valued at $18,656,436 over the last three months. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Company 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.