Champlain Investment Partners LLC Trims Position in BancFirst Corporation $BANF

Key Points

• Champlain Investment Partners LLC reduced its stake in BancFirst Corporation by 0.8%, selling 2,796 shares and now holds approximately 1.03% of the company, valued at $37.46 million.
• Several analysts have increased their price targets for BancFirst, with an average target now at $134.00, while maintaining a "Hold" rating for the stock.
• BancFirst's recent quarterly earnings reported an EPS of $1.85, outperforming estimates, and the stock is currently trading at around $133.85.

Champlain Investment Partners LLC lessened its stake in shares of BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 0.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 340,972 shares of the bank's stock after selling 2,796 shares during the period. Champlain Investment Partners LLC owned about 1.03% of BancFirst worth $37,463,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its position in BancFirst by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 2,419 shares of the bank's stock worth $265,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC increased 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 purchasing an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC lifted its position in BancFirst by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Capstone Triton Financial Group LLC now owns 13,403 shares of the bank's stock worth $1,571,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in BancFirst by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 38,005 shares of the bank's stock worth $4,453,000 after buying an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in BancFirst by 5.6% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 3,086 shares of the bank's stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BANF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted 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. DA Davidson upped their target price on BancFirst from $120.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, July 26th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $134.00.

Insider Transactions at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.29, for a total value of $631,450.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,000 shares in the company, valued at $757,740. This represents a 45.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 32.43% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

BancFirst Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of BancFirst stock traded down $1.29 on Monday, hitting $132.97. The company had a trading volume of 98,035 shares, compared to its average volume of 98,298. BancFirst Corporation has a 1 year low of $97.02 and a 1 year high of $137.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $127.32 and a 200-day moving average of $120.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.13 and a beta of 0.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.01.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.16% and a net margin of 24.94%.The firm had revenue of $169.30 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.62 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BancFirst Corporation will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 30th. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. This is a positive change from BancFirst's previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. BancFirst's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 28.20%.

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.