Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Stock Price

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) had its price objective upped by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $123.00 to $132.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a market perform rating on the bank's stock.

Separately, Wall Street Zen raised BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

BancFirst Trading Up 3.1%

BancFirst stock traded up $4.02 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $135.30. The stock had a trading volume of 231,659 shares, compared to its average volume of 111,961. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $125.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $118.52. BancFirst has a one year low of $95.78 and a one year high of $137.40. The stock has a market cap of $4.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.18. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 24.05%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $163.62 million. On average, equities analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. BancFirst's payout ratio is 26.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Randy Foraker sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.61, for a total value of $506,440.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.12, for a total value of $620,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $744,720. The trade was a 45.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 32.43% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BancFirst

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in BancFirst during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in BancFirst by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank's stock valued at $270,241,000 after buying an additional 44,563 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in BancFirst by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 108,842 shares of the bank's stock valued at $11,958,000 after buying an additional 3,594 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in BancFirst by 34,094.7% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 63,944 shares of the bank's stock valued at $7,026,000 after buying an additional 63,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of BancFirst by 16.1% in the first quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 72,677 shares of the bank's stock worth $7,985,000 after purchasing an additional 10,088 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company's stock.

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.