Swiss National Bank Boosts Stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Swiss National Bank grew its stake in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 42,218 shares of the bank’s stock after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in BancFirst were worth $4,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in BancFirst by 155.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC grew its holdings in BancFirst by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 862 shares of the bank’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in BancFirst by 83.5% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,464 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $154,000 after buying an additional 666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp purchased a new stake in BancFirst during the 4th quarter worth about $205,000. 51.72% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at BancFirst

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.58, for a total transaction of $602,900.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 6,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,480. This represents a 45.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of BancFirst stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 214,499 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,553,265.87. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,994,350. Insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd.

BancFirst Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of BancFirst stock opened at $112.52 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.47 and a beta of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $116.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $115.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. BancFirst Co. has a one year low of $81.21 and a one year high of $132.29.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.07. BancFirst had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 23.52%. On average, analysts forecast that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current year.

BancFirst Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a $0.46 dividend. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.64%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.57%.

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.