BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Cut to “Sell” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Wednesday.

Separately, Piper Sandler increased their price target on BancFirst from $84.50 to $95.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd.

BancFirst Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ BANF opened at $101.21 on Wednesday. BancFirst has a 12-month low of $79.99 and a 12-month high of $110.79. The company has a market cap of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $99.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.46.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.09. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.89% and a net margin of 23.46%. The firm had revenue of $153.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $149.75 million. Research analysts anticipate that BancFirst will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is an increase from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.82%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.07%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.50, for a total transaction of $319,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 7,714 shares in the company, valued at $821,541. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.50, for a total transaction of $319,500.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 7,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,541. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Dave R. Lopez sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.13, for a total transaction of $102,130.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 33,660 shares of company stock worth $3,580,196 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On BancFirst

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of BancFirst by 1.4% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $640,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in shares of BancFirst by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 5,993 shares of the bank’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co lifted its position in shares of BancFirst by 2.6% during the second quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,972 shares of the bank’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 3.9% in the first quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 4,070 shares of the bank’s stock worth $358,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 1.3% in the first quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 12,682 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,116,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

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.