BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 361,700 shares, an increase of 5.7% from the May 31st total of 342,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 65,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.5 days. Approximately 1.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

BancFirst Trading Down 1.4 %

NASDAQ BANF traded down $1.22 on Wednesday, reaching $86.60. 24,345 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 64,289. The company has a current ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.72. BancFirst has a fifty-two week low of $79.99 and a fifty-two week high of $104.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.04.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The bank reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $151.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $147.75 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.62% and a net margin of 24.65%. Analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 5.8 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Friday, June 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.10%.

Insider Activity

In other BancFirst news, EVP Kevin Lawrence sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $900,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other BancFirst news, EVP Kevin Lawrence sold 10,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.00, for a total transaction of $900,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 5,496 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.23, for a total value of $506,896.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,714 shares in the company, valued at $988,152.22. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 16,000 shares of company stock worth $1,453,360 over the last 90 days. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BancFirst

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of BANF. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 60,290 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,229,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 32.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 87,866 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $7,621,000 after acquiring an additional 21,521 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in BancFirst by 2,433.1% during the third quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,357 shares of the bank’s stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 4,185 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC bought a new stake in BancFirst in the third quarter valued at $1,242,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in BancFirst by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 3,841 shares of the bank’s stock worth $333,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% 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.