StockNews.com Initiates Coverage on BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF)

StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF – Get Rating) in a research note released on Thursday. The brokerage issued a sell rating on the bank’s stock.

Separately, Piper Sandler reduced their price objective on BancFirst from $84.00 to $73.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 26th.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of BANF opened at $81.39 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $80.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market capitalization of $2.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.70 and a beta of 1.06. BancFirst has a 52-week low of $68.44 and a 52-week high of $118.07.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 25th. The bank reported $1.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.68 by $0.04. BancFirst had a return on equity of 17.38% and a net margin of 31.83%. Research analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 30th. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.96%.

Insider Transactions at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, EVP Kevin Lawrence sold 2,291 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $210,772.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares in the company, valued at $920,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other BancFirst news, EVP Dennis L. Brand acquired 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 26th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $73.75 per share, for a total transaction of $368,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 37,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,728,750. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Kevin Lawrence sold 2,291 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.00, for a total value of $210,772.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 10,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $920,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 6,700 shares of company stock worth $492,106 over the last 90 days. 35.70% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. SkyView Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in BancFirst in the first quarter valued at $594,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in BancFirst by 90.6% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 41,992 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $3,488,000 after purchasing an additional 19,957 shares during the last quarter. KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in BancFirst in the first quarter valued at $544,000. Pacific Center for Financial Services acquired a new stake in BancFirst in the first quarter valued at $145,000. Finally, Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in BancFirst by 2.2% in the first quarter. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC now owns 2,233,634 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $185,615,000 after purchasing an additional 47,128 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.85% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Company Profile

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BancFirst Corp. is a bank holding company, which provides retail and commercial banking services. Its services include commercial, real estate, agricultural and consumer lending, depository and funds transfer services, collections, safe deposit boxes, cash management services, retail brokerage services, and other services tailored for both individual and corporate customers.