M&T Bank Corp Takes Position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,747 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in BANF. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 3,214 shares of the bank’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in BancFirst by 155.3% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of BancFirst by 2.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,051 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $953,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 20,056 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $2,350,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its position in shares of BancFirst by 85.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,162 shares of the bank’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 536 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 51.72% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BANF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other BancFirst news, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $117.97, for a total value of $589,850.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 6,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $707,820. This represents a 45.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 28th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350. 33.89% of the stock is owned by insiders.

BancFirst Stock Up 2.1 %

BancFirst stock opened at $111.56 on Friday. BancFirst Co. has a 12 month low of $81.21 and a 12 month high of $132.29. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $117.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.34. 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 cap of $3.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32 and a beta of 1.03.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The bank reported $1.68 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Equities analysts predict that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 31st will be given a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.65%. BancFirst’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.