BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) was downgraded by StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of BancFirst from $104.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st.

BancFirst Trading Down 2.2 %

BANF stock traded down $2.61 during trading on Friday, reaching $118.63. 160,779 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 112,612. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $121.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $111.33. BancFirst has a 1 year low of $81.21 and a 1 year high of $132.29. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 1.06.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 13.92% and a net margin of 23.52%. On average, research analysts predict that BancFirst will post 6.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BancFirst news, EVP Dennis Jay Hannah sold 10,543 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $126.58, for a total transaction of $1,334,532.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 1,564 shares in the company, valued at $197,971.12. This represents a 87.08 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Main Street Banking Partners L sold 24,421 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.78, for a total transaction of $2,705,358.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 4,910,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $543,929,800. This represents a 0.49 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,869 shares of company stock valued at $14,309,535. Corporate insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BancFirst

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of BancFirst by 81.6% in the 4th quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 73,000 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $8,554,000 after buying an additional 32,800 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in BancFirst by 85.6% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,000 after acquiring an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in BancFirst in the fourth quarter worth approximately $660,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in BancFirst by 110.0% during the 4th quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the bank’s stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 2,630 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of BancFirst by 33.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 129,204 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $13,599,000 after purchasing an additional 32,636 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

BancFirst Company 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.