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

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 597,600 shares, an increase of 20.6% from the February 28th total of 495,400 shares. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 115,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $270,241,000 after purchasing an additional 44,563 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 12.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 872,101 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $92,187,000 after acquiring an additional 96,483 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 484,883 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $56,832,000 after purchasing an additional 2,098 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BancFirst in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,649,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 16.1% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 192,320 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $20,242,000 after buying an additional 26,707 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Stock Down 0.2 %

BANF stock opened at $109.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a PE ratio of 17.03 and a beta of 1.03. BancFirst has a one year low of $81.21 and a one year high of $132.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $115.81 and a 200-day moving average of $115.92. 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 (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. As a group, analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report 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.