Federated Hermes Inc. Lowers Position in BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF)

Key Points

• Federated Hermes Inc. has reduced its stake in BancFirst Corporation by 29.9%, now holding 9,275 shares valued at approximately $1,019,000.
• Institutional ownership of BancFirst stands at 51.72%, with significant activity from other investors, including a 779.4% increase in stake by Sterling Capital Management.
• BancFirst recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, yielding 1.5%, while the company has reported a better-than-expected earnings per share of $1.85 for the last quarter.

Federated Hermes Inc. trimmed its position in BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF - Free Report) by 29.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,275 shares of the bank's stock after selling 3,962 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.'s holdings in BancFirst were worth $1,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in BancFirst by 779.4% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 554 shares of the bank's stock worth $65,000 after buying an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 211.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 582 shares of the bank's stock worth $64,000 after acquiring an additional 395 shares during the period. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of BancFirst during the fourth quarter worth about $135,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in BancFirst during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $181,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in BancFirst by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 1,684 shares of the bank's stock worth $197,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other BancFirst news, EVP Randy Foraker sold 4,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.61, for a total transaction of $506,440.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $744,720. This trade represents a 45.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 32.43% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on BANF shares. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $120.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of BancFirst from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of BancFirst from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, July 26th.

BancFirst Stock Performance

NASDAQ BANF opened at $122.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. BancFirst Corporation has a 1-year low of $96.59 and a 1-year high of $137.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $125.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $119.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.07 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 0.76.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF - Get Free Report) last posted 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. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.38% and a net margin of 24.05%. The firm had revenue of $169.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $163.62 million. On average, research analysts predict that BancFirst Corporation will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th were paid a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 30th. BancFirst's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.47%.

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.

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