KBC Group NV Raises Stock Holdings in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 85.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $136,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of BANF. State Street Corp grew its position in BancFirst by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank’s stock worth $92,187,000 after purchasing an additional 96,483 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 13.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,823,000 after buying an additional 58,016 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 16.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 192,320 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,242,000 after buying an additional 26,707 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in BancFirst by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 129,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,599,000 after acquiring an additional 32,636 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in BancFirst during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $112,370,000. 51.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BancFirst Stock Up 1.0 %

BANF opened at $123.19 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. BancFirst Co. has a 12 month low of $81.21 and a 12 month high of $132.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $120.55 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.87.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 23.52%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total transaction of $3,075,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 249,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,640,038. The trade was a 9.12 % 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 29th. The shares were 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 owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $707,820. This represents a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 73,905 shares of company stock worth $9,139,894. 33.89% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BANF has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. DA Davidson boosted 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. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

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.