New York State Common Retirement Fund Purchases 4,400 Shares of BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF)

New York State Common Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 40.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,286 shares of the bank's stock after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund's holdings in BancFirst were worth $1,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of BANF. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 1.2% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 29,206 shares of the bank's stock valued at $3,209,000 after buying an additional 349 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of BancFirst by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 108,842 shares of the bank's stock worth $11,958,000 after purchasing an additional 3,594 shares during the period. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of BancFirst in the 1st quarter worth approximately $220,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of BancFirst by 6.0% in the 1st 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. Finally, SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company's stock.

BancFirst Price Performance

BANF traded down $0.22 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $126.63. The stock had a trading volume of 67,341 shares, compared to its average volume of 173,875. The company has a market cap of $4.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22 and a beta of 0.77. BancFirst Corporation has a 1 year low of $95.78 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. The business has a fifty day moving average of $125.65 and a 200 day moving average of $119.00.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The company 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%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that BancFirst Corporation will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 30th were issued 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 1.45%. BancFirst's dividend payout ratio is presently 26.47%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on BANF. DA Davidson lifted their target price on BancFirst from $120.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on BancFirst from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 in the company, valued at approximately $744,720. This represents a 45.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Randy Foraker sold 4,000 shares of the 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.