BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Short Interest Update

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 739,500 shares, an increase of 23.7% from the March 15th total of 597,600 shares. Currently, 3.6% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 114,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.4 days.

BancFirst Stock Performance

BANF traded down $1.03 on Friday, hitting $118.12. The company had a trading volume of 82,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 102,143. BancFirst has a 1-year low of $81.56 and a 1-year high of $132.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company's fifty day moving average price is $111.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34 and a beta of 0.82.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.09. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 23.52%. The company had revenue of $164.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.72 million. Equities analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.56%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. BancFirst's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com cut BancFirst from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at $25,553,265.87. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.06, for a total value of $610,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 43,564 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,317,421.84. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. Corporate insiders own 32.43% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its stake in BancFirst by 6.0% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 10,904 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 8,839 shares of the bank's stock worth $971,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 283.6% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 49,357 shares of the bank's stock valued at $5,423,000 after acquiring an additional 36,491 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 211.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 582 shares of the bank's stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Impact Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in BancFirst by 8.6% in the first quarter. Impact Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,643 shares of the bank's stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 287 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.