Ameriprise Financial Inc. Lowers Position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. cut its stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,787 shares of the bank's stock after selling 3,340 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.15% of BancFirst worth $5,835,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in BancFirst in the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in BancFirst by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank's stock valued at $270,241,000 after acquiring an additional 44,563 shares during the period. Amundi grew its position in shares of BancFirst by 189.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 10,514 shares of the bank's stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,886 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in BancFirst by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 105,248 shares of the bank's stock worth $12,333,000 after purchasing an additional 3,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in BancFirst in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $529,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company's stock.

BancFirst Stock Down 0.0%

BANF stock traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $123.66. The company's stock had a trading volume of 8,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 107,561. The company's fifty day moving average price is $115.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $118.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. BancFirst Co. has a twelve month low of $81.56 and a twelve month high of $132.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.20 and a beta of 0.78.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $164.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.72 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 23.52%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 30th. BancFirst's payout ratio is currently 27.84%.

Insider Activity

In other BancFirst news, EVP Randy Foraker sold 4,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.61, for a total value of $506,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total transaction of $1,191,300.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,318,340 over the last three months. Insiders own 32.43% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of BancFirst to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th.

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.