Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 44,563 Shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,306,204 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 44,563 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 6.96% of BancFirst worth $270,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 155.3% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC increased its holdings in BancFirst by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 862 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in BancFirst by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,000 after buying an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 83.5% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,464 shares of the bank’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp purchased a new position in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter valued at $205,000. 51.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at $25,553,265.87. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.58, for a total value of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,480. This trade represents a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,994,350 in the last three months. 33.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BancFirst Trading Down 1.7 %

NASDAQ:BANF opened at $100.43 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $114.85 and a 200 day moving average of $115.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. BancFirst Co. has a 52 week low of $81.21 and a 52 week high of $132.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59 and a beta of 0.82.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 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 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 is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.83%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 28.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday.

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.