BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Up 23.7% in March

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the target of a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 739,500 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 597,600 shares. Approximately 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 114,700 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.4 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.06, for a total value of $610,300.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,317,421.84. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. The trade was 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 in the last 90 days. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in BancFirst by 94.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 56,136 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,908,000 after buying an additional 27,295 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,823,000 after acquiring an additional 58,016 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the 3rd quarter worth $1,766,000. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in BancFirst during the third quarter valued at about $1,219,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Trading Up 1.9 %

BANF traded up $2.03 during trading on Friday, reaching $109.54. The company had a trading volume of 151,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 101,761. 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 52 week low of $81.56 and a 52 week high of $132.29. The stock has a market cap of $3.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $115.74.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $164.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $161.72 million. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that BancFirst 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 Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.84%.

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.