Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC) Short Interest Down 7.6% in January

Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC) saw a large decrease in short interest during the month of January. As of January 15th, there was short interest totalling 129,000 shares, a decrease of 7.6% from the December 31st total of 139,600 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 17,500 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 7.4 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Bank First

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Bank First by 88.7% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 179,814 shares of the company’s stock valued at $17,818,000 after acquiring an additional 84,524 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Bank First by 130.3% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 23,865 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,165,000 after acquiring an additional 13,502 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Bank First by 339.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 15,635 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,417,000 after purchasing an additional 12,081 shares during the last quarter. Rosenthal Henry Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Bank First in the fourth quarter worth about $1,031,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Bank First by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 222,204 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,158,000 after buying an additional 7,922 shares in the last quarter. 29.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Bank First from $99.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th.

Bank First Stock Performance

Bank First stock traded down $0.94 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $100.24. 18,887 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 18,985. Bank First has a fifty-two week low of $74.90 and a fifty-two week high of $110.49. The stock has a market cap of $1.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $101.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $95.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00.

Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 21st. The company reported $1.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.55 by $0.19. Bank First had a net margin of 29.00% and a return on equity of 10.53%. On average, research analysts expect that Bank First will post 6.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank First Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 9th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.80%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 26th. Bank First’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 27.69%.

About Bank First

Bank First Corporation operates as a holding company for Bank First, N.A. that provides consumer and commercial financial services to businesses, professionals, consumers, associations, individuals, and governmental authorities in Wisconsin. It offers checking, savings, money market, cash management, retirement, and health savings accounts; other time deposits; certificates of deposit; and residential mortgage products.