BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Up 30.0% in December

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 596,900 shares, a growth of 30.0% from the November 30th total of 459,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 95,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.3 days. Approximately 2.9% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, major shareholder Main Street Banking Partners L sold 778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.00, for a total value of $85,580.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 4,941,772 shares in the company, valued at $543,594,920. This represents a 0.02 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,174,500. The trade was a 10.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 129,150 shares of company stock worth $15,442,825. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. bought a new position in BancFirst in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in BancFirst by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in BancFirst by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $73,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in BancFirst during the 2nd quarter valued at $77,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in BancFirst during the 3rd quarter worth $105,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on BANF. 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. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BANF traded down $1.32 on Friday, reaching $119.89. 60,795 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 86,068. The business’s 50-day moving average is $120.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $107.03. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $81.21 and a fifty-two week high of $132.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27 and a beta of 1.05.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $163.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $156.70 million. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 13.92%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.58%.

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.