Barclays PLC Buys 27,295 Shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Barclays PLC raised its stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 94.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,136 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 27,295 shares during the period. Barclays PLC’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $5,908,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in BancFirst by 33.9% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 391 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in BancFirst by 1.4% during the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 7,300 shares of the bank’s stock worth $640,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in BancFirst by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 5,993 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $526,000 after buying an additional 112 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of BancFirst by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,051 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $953,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 64.8% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 834 shares of the bank’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 328 shares during the period. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David E. Rainbolt sold 5,601 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.21, for a total transaction of $617,286.21. Following the transaction, the director now owns 208,723 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,003,361.83. The trade was a 2.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Dennis L. Brand sold 4,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $126.50, for a total transaction of $506,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 33,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,174,500. This represents a 10.81 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 129,150 shares of company stock valued at $15,442,825. 33.89% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

BancFirst Price Performance

BANF stock opened at $117.25 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.85 and a beta of 1.05. 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 50 day simple moving average of $119.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $105.37. BancFirst Co. has a 1 year low of $81.21 and a 1 year high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 17th. The bank reported $1.75 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.18. BancFirst had a net margin of 23.52% and a return on equity of 13.92%. The company had revenue of $163.67 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $156.70 million. Research analysts anticipate that BancFirst Co. will post 6.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, December 31st will be given a $0.46 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.57%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.58%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on BANF shares. DA Davidson lifted their price objective 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th.

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.