Hodges Capital Management Inc. Increases Stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 81.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,000 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,800 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $8,554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BANF. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in BancFirst by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in BancFirst by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,051 shares of the bank’s stock worth $953,000 after acquiring an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of BancFirst in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 13.3% in the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 4,258 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $448,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 15,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.00, for a total transaction of $1,755,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 291,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,152,768. The trade was a 4.89 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 94,448 shares of company stock valued at $11,626,527 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

BancFirst Trading Up 0.1 %

BANF opened at $119.08 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a market cap of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.49 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s 50 day moving average is $121.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.51. BancFirst Co. has a 52 week low of $81.21 and a 52 week high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, research analysts predict that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

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

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.