Insider Selling: BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Director Sells 5,000 Shares of Stock

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.97, for a total value of $589,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $707,820. This trade represents a 45.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

BancFirst Stock Performance

NASDAQ BANF opened at $119.08 on Friday. BancFirst Co. has a 1-year low of $81.21 and a 1-year high of $132.29. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.49 and a beta of 1.06. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $121.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $112.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.57%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BancFirst

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BANF. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 16.0% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,836 shares of the bank’s stock worth $249,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP acquired a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the second quarter worth $356,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the second quarter worth $935,000. AQR Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the second quarter worth $220,000. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 499.6% during the second quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 57,614 shares of the bank’s stock worth $5,053,000 after purchasing an additional 48,006 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on BANF shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson increased their target price on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th.

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.