Wall Street Zen Upgrades BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has upgraded BancFirst from a sell rating to a hold rating, indicating a more favorable outlook on the stock.
• BancFirst's stock price recently experienced a slight decline, trading at $126.63, while the company reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $1.85, exceeding estimates.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $0.46, representing an annualized dividend of $1.84 and a yield of 1.45%.

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on BANF. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of BancFirst from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $120.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st.

BancFirst Price Performance

Shares of BANF traded down $0.49 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $126.52. The stock had a trading volume of 91,949 shares, compared to its average volume of 146,153. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.21 billion, a PE ratio of 18.20 and a beta of 0.77. BancFirst has a 12 month low of $95.78 and a 12 month high of $137.40. The company's 50-day moving average is $125.53 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.85 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.18. The firm had revenue of $169.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.62 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 24.05%. Research analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 30th. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.45%. BancFirst's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.47%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.12, for a total value of $620,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $744,720. This trade represents a 45.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Randy Foraker sold 4,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.61, for a total transaction of $506,440.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 32.43% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 15,743 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,845,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 21,979 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 5.7% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 24,819 shares of the bank's stock valued at $2,908,000 after purchasing an additional 1,328 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter valued at $529,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank's stock valued at $270,241,000 after purchasing an additional 44,563 shares during the period. 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.