Cibc World Markets Corp Makes New Investment in BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF)

Cibc World Markets Corp bought a new stake in shares of BancFirst Co. (NASDAQ:BANF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,864 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $218,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in BancFirst by 155.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 314 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its holdings in shares of BancFirst by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 862 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $101,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 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. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in shares of BancFirst by 83.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 1,464 shares of the bank’s stock worth $154,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp bought a new position in BancFirst during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $205,000. 51.72% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

BancFirst Stock Performance

Shares of BANF opened at $111.87 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.37 and a beta of 1.03. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $115.69. BancFirst Co. has a 12 month low of $81.21 and a 12 month 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.

BancFirst (NASDAQ:BANF) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Research analysts anticipate that BancFirst Co. will post 6.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

BancFirst Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.46 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.64%. BancFirst’s payout ratio is 28.57%.

Insider Activity at BancFirst

In other news, Director William Scott Martin sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the director now owns 214,499 shares in the company, valued at $25,553,265.87. This represents a 4.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director F Ford Drummond sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $723,480. This trade represents a 45.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 25,000 shares of company stock worth $2,994,350 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 33.89% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on BANF. StockNews.com raised BancFirst from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of BancFirst from $117.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th.

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.