BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) Shares Purchased by Bank of Montreal Can

Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 9.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,144 shares of the bank’s stock after buying an additional 360 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $486,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of BancFirst in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,649,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in BancFirst in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,958,000. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in BancFirst by 13.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 482,785 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $50,823,000 after buying an additional 58,016 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew 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 buying an additional 46,253 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of BancFirst by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 2,306,204 shares of the bank’s stock worth $270,241,000 after acquiring an additional 44,563 shares in the last quarter. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

BancFirst Stock Performance

BancFirst stock opened at $113.08 on Tuesday. BancFirst Co. has a 12-month low of $81.56 and a 12-month high of $132.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a market capitalization of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.56 and a beta of 0.82. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $111.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $115.91.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The bank reported $1.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $161.72 million. On average, research analysts forecast that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st were issued a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.63%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 27.84%.

Insider Buying and Selling at BancFirst

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The stock was 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 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Darryl Schmidt sold 5,000 shares of BancFirst 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350 in the last ninety days. 32.43% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, StockNews.com downgraded BancFirst from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday.

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.