BancFirst Trust & Investment Management Trims Stake in BancFirst Corporation $BANF

Key Points

• BancFirst Corporation (BANF) is the largest holding of BancFirst Trust & Investment Management, accounting for about 50.9% of the fund’s investments with a total valuation of approximately $109.9 million.
• The bank recently reported an earnings per share of $1.85, exceeding expectations and also announced a quarterly dividend increase to $0.49 per share, set to be paid on October 15th.
• Analysts have raised their price targets for BancFirst, with Keefe, Bruyette & Woods setting a target of $132.00 and DA Davidson increasing theirs to $136.00, reflecting a generally positive sentiment towards the stock.

BancFirst Trust & Investment Management cut its holdings in shares of BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 0.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 879,515 shares of the bank's stock after selling 3,030 shares during the quarter. BancFirst accounts for about 50.9% of BancFirst Trust & Investment Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management owned 2.65% of BancFirst worth $109,948,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Baird Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in BancFirst in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter worth approximately $135,000. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 18,960 shares of the bank's stock worth $2,222,000 after buying an additional 6,318 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 11,339 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,329,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC increased its holdings in BancFirst by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 38,098 shares of the bank's stock valued at $4,464,000 after purchasing an additional 9,064 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on BANF shares. Zacks Research cut BancFirst from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on BancFirst from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on BancFirst from $120.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $134.00.

BancFirst Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of BANF traded up $3.06 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $134.19. The stock had a trading volume of 36,707 shares, compared to its average volume of 113,937. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.97 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $121.61. BancFirst Corporation has a twelve month low of $97.02 and a twelve month high of $138.77. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.01 and a quick ratio of 1.01.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The bank reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.67 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $169.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.62 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 24.94%. On average, analysts anticipate that BancFirst Corporation will post 6.52 EPS for the current year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be paid a $0.49 dividend. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. This is a boost from BancFirst's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. BancFirst's payout ratio is presently 26.47%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.29, for a total transaction of $631,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $757,740. The trade was a 45.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

BancFirst 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.