Wells Fargo & Company MN Trims Stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lessened its position in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 240,073 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 13,872 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.72% of BancFirst worth $28,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANF. AlphaQuest LLC grew its position in shares of BancFirst by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 862 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in BancFirst by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in BancFirst by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 15,743 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,845,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,684 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $197,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 155.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In related 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 value of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 214,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,553,265.87. This trade represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th.

BancFirst Stock Down 0.4 %

BANF stock opened at $102.76 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 15.96 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a fifty day moving average of $112.80 and a 200-day moving average of $115.60. 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 Co. has a one year low of $81.21 and a one year high of $132.29.

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, topping 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%. As a group, analysts expect that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.79%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

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.