BancFirst Co. Short Interest Decreased in November

BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) experienced a notable reduction in short interest throughout November. As of November 15th, the total short interest stood at 495,100 shares, reflecting a decrease of 12.2% from the previous month's total of 563,800 shares. This means that approximately 2.4% of the company’s shares are currently sold short. Given an average trading volume of 120,100 shares, the days-to-cover ratio now stands at 4.1 days.

Insider Trading Activities

In other developments, on November 21st, Director William Scott Martin sold 24,607 shares of BancFirst's stock at an average price of $124.70, amounting to nearly $3.07 million in total. After this sale, he retains ownership of 224,499 shares, valued at about $28 million, marking a decrease of 9.88% in his holdings. This transaction was reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission and can be viewed on their official site. Additionally, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 1,414 shares on September 3rd for an average price of $105.58, totaling roughly $149,290. Following this, he owns 223,402 shares valued at approximately $23.6 million, reflecting a 0.63% decrease in his stock ownership. Hence, insiders have collectively sold 160,468 shares worth $18.7 million over the past 90 days. Insiders own about 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Activity

Recently, there has been a shift in the involvement of institutional investors in BancFirst. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. acquired a new stake in the bank during the third quarter, investing around $38,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake by 33.9%, now owning a total of 391 shares worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares. Meanwhile, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. raised their holdings by 64.8%, now owning 834 shares valued at $73,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd made a new investment in BancFirst worth $77,000 during the second quarter, and nVerses Capital LLC also acquired a new stake valued at $105,000 in the third quarter. Overall, institutional investors currently hold 51.72% of BancFirst's stock.

Stock Performance Overview

As of Friday, shares of NASDAQ BANF opened at $126.28. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $113.38 and a 200-day moving average of $101.78. The company shows a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. Over the past year, BancFirst’s stock has fluctuated between a low of $81.21 and a high of $132.29, and it currently has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion with a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 20.30 and a beta of 1.02.

On October 17th, BancFirst released its latest quarterly earnings report, revealing earnings per share (EPS) of $1.75, exceeding analysts’ expectations of $1.57 by $0.18. The bank's revenue for the quarter totaled $163.67 million, surpassing the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. BancFirst achieved a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. Forecasts suggest the bank will post EPS of 6.37 for the current year.

Dividend Announcement

BancFirst also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.46 per share, which will be distributed on January 15th to investors on record as of December 31st. The ex-dividend date is also set for December 31st. Annually, this results in a dividend of $1.84, representing a yield of 1.46%. The current dividend payout ratio stands at 29.58%.

Analyst Ratings

Recent evaluations from analysts indicate a mixed outlook for BancFirst. DA Davidson increased their target price for the stock from $104.00 to $110.00 while maintaining a "neutral" rating as of October 21st. StockNews.com upgraded their rating from "sell" to "hold" on November 7th.

Company Background

BancFirst Corporation serves as the bank holding company for BancFirst, which provides a variety of commercial banking services to retail clients as well as small and medium-sized businesses through its various banking segments.

BancFirst, Stocks, Investors