BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 625,000 shares, a growth of 41.3% from the September 15th total of 442,200 shares. Currently, 3.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 120,900 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 5.2 days.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BANF traded up $0.55 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $107.14. The stock had a trading volume of 40,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 82,506. The company has a 50 day moving average of $103.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.76. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 0.97. BancFirst has a twelve month low of $79.99 and a twelve month high of $111.00.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by $0.09. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.46% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The business had revenue of $153.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.75 million. Research analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.09 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.72%. This is a boost from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.07%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Leslie Jeannine Rainbolt sold 10,371 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total transaction of $1,089,162.42. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4,944,702 shares in the company, valued at approximately $519,292,604.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other BancFirst news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 1,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total value of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $704,970. The trade was a 0.00 % 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 Leslie Jeannine Rainbolt sold 10,371 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.02, for a total value of $1,089,162.42. Following the sale, the director now owns 4,944,702 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $519,292,604.04. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 67,564 shares of company stock valued at $7,150,517 in the last 90 days. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 50.8% in the 3rd quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,702,082 shares of the bank’s stock worth $177,936,000 after purchasing an additional 573,224 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in BancFirst in the 1st quarter valued at $4,274,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its stake in shares of BancFirst by 499.6% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 57,614 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $5,053,000 after buying an additional 48,006 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of BancFirst by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,160 shares of the bank’s stock worth $87,888,000 after purchasing an additional 16,664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of BancFirst by 255.9% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 15,750 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,381,000 after purchasing an additional 11,324 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on BANF. Piper Sandler increased their target price on BancFirst from $84.50 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th.

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.