Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $998,000 Investment in BancFirst Corporation $BANF

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new stake in BancFirst Corporation (NASDAQ:BANF) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,200 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $998,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in BancFirst during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,723,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in BancFirst by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,375,873 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $146,537,000 after acquiring an additional 96,957 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC bought a new position in BancFirst during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,316,000. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in BancFirst by 73.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 163,512 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,676,000 after acquiring an additional 69,192 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in BancFirst by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 168,591 shares of the bank’s stock worth $17,874,000 after purchasing an additional 39,672 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 24,614 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.55, for a total transaction of $2,844,147.70. Following the transaction, the director owned 182,004 shares in the company, valued at $21,030,562.20. The trade was a 11.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders have sold 58,217 shares of company stock valued at $6,719,222. 31.67% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BancFirst Stock Performance

NASDAQ BANF opened at $113.97 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61 and a beta of 0.59. BancFirst Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $101.48 and a fifty-two week high of $138.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 16th. The bank reported $1.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.77 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $179.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $177.19 million. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.62% and a net margin of 25.50%.During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.66 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that BancFirst Corporation will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.49 per share. This represents a $1.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 30th. BancFirst’s payout ratio is presently 26.85%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on BANF. DA Davidson restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $125.00 target price on shares of BancFirst in a report on Friday, June 12th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of BancFirst from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $124.00.

BancFirst Profile

BancFirst Corporation is a regional banking holding company based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As the largest state‐chartered bank in Oklahoma, BancFirst offers a comprehensive suite of financial services to individuals, businesses and government entities. Its core business activities include commercial and consumer banking, mortgage lending, treasury management, equipment financing and electronic banking solutions.

The bank operates a network of more than 60 branches across Oklahoma, serving urban centers such as Oklahoma City and Tulsa, as well as rural communities throughout the state.