Legal & General Group Plc Cuts Position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Legal & General Group Plc reduced its position in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 58,100 shares of the bank’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $6,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in BancFirst during the fourth quarter valued at $26,649,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter valued at about $11,958,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in BancFirst by 13.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank’s stock worth $50,823,000 after acquiring an additional 58,016 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in BancFirst by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 175,457 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,560,000 after acquiring an additional 46,253 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in BancFirst by 2.0% during the fourth 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 during the period. 51.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:BANF opened at $109.54 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. The company has a market capitalization of $3.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.01 and a beta of 0.82. BancFirst Co. has a 12 month low of $81.56 and a 12 month high of $132.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $111.35 and its 200 day moving average is $115.74.

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

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were paid a dividend of $0.46 per share. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 27.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com raised BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th.

Insider Transactions at BancFirst

In other news, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 43,564 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,317,421.84. This represents a 10.30 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.13, for a total value of $1,191,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 214,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. Insiders own 32.43% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst 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.