BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Update

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 597,600 shares, a growth of 20.6% from the February 28th total of 495,400 shares. Currently, 2.9% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 115,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 5.2 days.

BancFirst Stock Performance

BANF opened at $109.99 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.08 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a fifty day moving average of $115.60 and a 200 day moving average of $115.88. BancFirst has a fifty-two week low of $81.21 and a fifty-two week high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.67%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total transaction of $1,191,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.06, for a total transaction of $610,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,317,421.84. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. Corporate insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 155.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BancFirst by 779.4% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $65,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 862 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in BancFirst in the fourth quarter worth about $135,000. Finally, KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on BANF shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd.

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.