BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Downgraded by StockNews.com to “Sell”

StockNews.com downgraded shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Separately, Piper Sandler raised their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $84.50 to $95.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, July 22nd.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ BANF opened at $101.21 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $99.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.46. BancFirst has a 52-week low of $79.99 and a 52-week high of $110.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.03.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 18th. The bank reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.42 by $0.09. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.46% and a return on equity of 13.89%. The company had revenue of $153.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $149.75 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that BancFirst will post 6.07 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Monday, September 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.82%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 30th. This is a positive change from BancFirst’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.07%.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In related news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,714 shares in the company, valued at $704,970. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other BancFirst news, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 1,414 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.58, for a total value of $149,290.12. Following the transaction, the director now owns 223,402 shares in the company, valued at $23,586,783.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 1,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.00, for a total transaction of $105,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $704,970. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,660 shares of company stock worth $3,580,196 over the last quarter. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BANF. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management boosted its stake in BancFirst by 4.2% in the 1st quarter. BancFirst Trust & Investment Management now owns 1,127,415 shares of the bank’s stock worth $99,246,000 after purchasing an additional 45,629 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in BancFirst by 58.8% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 24,140 shares of the bank’s stock worth $2,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,939 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in BancFirst by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 169,562 shares of the bank’s stock worth $16,503,000 after purchasing an additional 12,457 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in BancFirst by 85.7% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 10,980 shares of the bank’s stock worth $967,000 after purchasing an additional 5,066 shares during the period. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its stake in BancFirst by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 21,296 shares of the bank’s stock worth $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 9,936 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

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.