BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Monday morning.

BancFirst Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of BANF stock opened at $127.87 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86 and a beta of 0.78. BancFirst has a one year low of $81.56 and a one year high of $132.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $112.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $117.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.58 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $164.84 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.72 million. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 14.21%. Sell-side analysts expect that BancFirst will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st were given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.44%. BancFirst’s payout ratio is 27.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. The trade was a 4.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 32.43% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of BancFirst

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in BancFirst by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $270,241,000 after acquiring an additional 44,563 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 484,883 shares of the bank’s stock worth $56,832,000 after buying an additional 2,098 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter worth $26,649,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 175,457 shares of the bank’s stock worth $20,560,000 after buying an additional 46,253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 65.7% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 109,342 shares of the bank’s stock worth $12,813,000 after buying an additional 43,336 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About BancFirst

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.