BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Down 6.2% in July

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of July. As of July 31st, there was short interest totalling 327,400 shares, a decline of 6.2% from the July 15th total of 349,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 83,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days. Currently, 1.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on BANF. StockNews.com raised shares of BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. Piper Sandler upped their price objective on BancFirst from $84.50 to $95.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Dave R. Lopez sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.13, for a total value of $102,130.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.50, for a total value of $537,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 326,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,142,180. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Dave R. Lopez sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.13, for a total value of $102,130.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,171,630. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in BancFirst during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new position in BancFirst during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised its stake in BancFirst by 557.1% in the 1st quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 506 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 56.8% in the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 842 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of BancFirst during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $77,000. Institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of BANF opened at $101.23 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.04. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.69 and a 200-day moving average of $89.98. BancFirst has a one year low of $79.99 and a one year high of $110.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 0.96 and a quick ratio of 0.95.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.09. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.10% and a net margin of 29.64%. The business had revenue of $153.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $149.75 million. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 28th were given a $0.43 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 28th. BancFirst’s payout ratio is 28.10%.

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.