BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Position Reduced by Comerica Bank

Comerica Bank reduced its position in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,925 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 119 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $1,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new position in BancFirst during the fourth quarter valued at about $218,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of BancFirst by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $270,241,000 after purchasing an additional 44,563 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 101,276 shares of the bank’s stock worth $10,659,000 after purchasing an additional 29,050 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 129,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,599,000 after purchasing an additional 32,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in BancFirst by 189.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 10,514 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $1,200,000 after purchasing an additional 6,886 shares during the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BancFirst Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BANF opened at $123.14 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. BancFirst Co. has a 1-year low of $81.56 and a 1-year high of $132.29. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.12 and a beta of 0.78. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $111.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $116.99.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.09. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The business had revenue of $164.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $161.72 million. Analysts expect that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.49%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 27.84%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total transaction of $1,191,300.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $122.06, for a total transaction of $610,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 43,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,317,421.84. The trade was a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com lowered shares of BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

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.