BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report published on Monday morning.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

BancFirst Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ BANF opened at $115.17 on Monday. BancFirst has a one year low of $81.21 and a one year high of $132.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $118.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.88 and a beta of 1.03.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. On average, equities analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.60%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.58, for a total transaction of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,480. The trade was a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 33,000 shares in the company, valued at $4,174,500. This trade represents a 10.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 29,000 shares of company stock worth $3,500,350 in the last ninety days. 33.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Alpine Global Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the 4th quarter worth about $807,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 32.0% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 66,104 shares of the bank’s stock worth $7,746,000 after buying an additional 16,010 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 284.7% during the 4th quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 17,978 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,107,000 after buying an additional 13,305 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 21.0% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 17,806 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,087,000 after buying an additional 3,095 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter worth approximately $210,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.