BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Downgraded to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson raised their target price on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of BANF opened at $118.63 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $121.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $111.33. BancFirst has a 12-month low of $81.21 and a 12-month high of $132.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a PE ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. Equities research analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.37 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, December 31st were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.58%.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In related news, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of BancFirst 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,174,500. The trade was a 10.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 25,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.00, for a total value of $3,075,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 249,106 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,640,038. The trade was a 9.12 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,869 shares of company stock worth $14,309,535 over the last ninety days. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BANF. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new position in BancFirst in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst by 64.8% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in BancFirst in the 2nd quarter worth about $77,000. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in BancFirst in the 3rd quarter worth about $105,000. 51.72% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.