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

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

BancFirst Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of BANF opened at $107.14 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 1.03. BancFirst has a 12-month low of $79.99 and a 12-month high of $111.00. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $103.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $153.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.75 million. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.46% and a return on equity of 13.89%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.09 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders 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 a positive change from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.72%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is 30.07%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of BancFirst from $84.50 to $95.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 4th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BancFirst news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 3,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on Friday, July 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.50, for a total transaction of $319,500.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 7,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $821,541. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $107.50, for a total transaction of $537,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 326,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,142,180. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 3,000 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 7,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $821,541. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 67,564 shares of company stock valued at $7,150,517 in the last 90 days. 33.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of BANF. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management increased its stake in BancFirst by 4.2% during the first quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,127,415 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,246,000 after purchasing an additional 45,629 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in BancFirst by 25.2% during the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,844 shares of the bank’s stock worth $426,000 after purchasing an additional 975 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst by 557.1% during the first quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 506 shares of the bank’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. SpiderRock Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in BancFirst during the first quarter worth about $257,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in BancFirst by 85.7% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 5,066 shares during the period. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.