BancFirst Co. (BANF) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 31st

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 27th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of 0.46 per share by the bank on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st.

BancFirst has increased its dividend payment by an average of 8.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 31 consecutive years. BancFirst has a dividend payout ratio of 28.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect BancFirst to earn $6.10 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 30.2%.

BancFirst Stock Performance

BancFirst stock traded down $1.93 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $109.51. 56,497 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 98,318. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.00 and a beta of 1.03. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $116.26 and its 200 day moving average is $115.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. BancFirst has a 52-week low of $81.21 and a 52-week high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 23.52%. Analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BANF has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com raised BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.58, for a total transaction of $602,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $723,480. This represents a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The shares were 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 owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,994,350. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

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.