Merit Financial Group LLC Sells 16,554 Shares of Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC)

Merit Financial Group LLC decreased its position in shares of Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC - Free Report) by 9.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 163,260 shares of the company's stock after selling 16,554 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC owned about 1.63% of Bank First worth $16,447,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Bank First in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Bank First by 771.4% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 305 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Bank First in the fourth quarter worth about $189,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Bank First by 17,300.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,914 shares of the company's stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,903 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hanlon Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Bank First during the 4th quarter valued at about $218,000. Institutional investors own 29.95% of the company's stock.

Bank First Trading Up 0.1%

NASDAQ:BFC traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $113.35. The company had a trading volume of 151,435 shares, compared to its average volume of 26,344. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00. Bank First Co. has a fifty-two week low of $77.00 and a fifty-two week high of $119.04. The firm has a market cap of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.44 and a beta of 0.39. The business's fifty day moving average is $109.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $104.70.

Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 15th. The company reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $43.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $41.80 million. Bank First had a net margin of 29.00% and a return on equity of 10.53%. As a group, research analysts expect that Bank First Co. will post 6.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Bank First Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were issued a dividend of $3.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 9th. This is a boost from Bank First's previous dividend of $0.20. Bank First's payout ratio is 26.43%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on shares of Bank First from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Bank First from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $130.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th.

Bank First Profile

Bank First Corporation operates as a holding company for Bank First, N.A. that provides consumer and commercial financial services to businesses, professionals, consumers, associations, individuals, and governmental authorities in Wisconsin. It offers checking, savings, money market, cash management, retirement, and health savings accounts; other time deposits; certificates of deposit; and residential mortgage products.