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

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

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. DA Davidson boosted their target price on BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th.

BancFirst Price Performance

NASDAQ:BANF opened at $118.63 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 1.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $121.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.67. BancFirst has a 12 month low of $81.21 and a 12 month high of $132.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. On average, analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, December 31st. BancFirst’s payout ratio is presently 28.57%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.00, for a total value of $1,755,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 291,904 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $34,152,768. This represents a 4.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the 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 approximately $4,174,500. This trade represents a 10.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 94,448 shares of company stock worth $11,604,177. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hodges Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 81.6% in the fourth quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 73,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,554,000 after buying an additional 32,800 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 85.6% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in BancFirst in the 4th quarter valued at about $660,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in BancFirst by 110.0% during the fourth quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the bank’s stock worth $588,000 after purchasing an additional 2,630 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of BancFirst by 33.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 129,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,599,000 after purchasing an additional 32,636 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.