Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC) was the target of a significant drop in short interest during the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 175,900 shares, a drop of 8.9% from the September 15th total of 193,100 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 26,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Bank First

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank First by 65,700.0% in the 2nd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 658 shares of the company’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Bank First by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 2,554 shares of the company’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new stake in shares of Bank First during the 1st quarter valued at about $232,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Bank First by 102.8% during the 1st quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock valued at $236,000 after buying an additional 1,382 shares during the period. Finally, Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bank First during the 4th quarter valued at about $241,000. 29.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Bank First Price Performance

Shares of BFC traded up $2.87 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $94.07. 27,477 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,911. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.16 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.98. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. Bank First has a fifty-two week low of $70.00 and a fifty-two week high of $96.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $948.32 million, a PE ratio of 12.22 and a beta of 0.30.

Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 15th. The company reported $1.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.11. Bank First had a return on equity of 10.07% and a net margin of 32.18%. The firm had revenue of $58.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.60 million. As a group, research analysts predict that Bank First will post 6.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank First Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.91%. This is a positive change from Bank First’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. Bank First’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 20.78%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Piper Sandler increased their price objective on Bank First from $99.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday.

About Bank First

Bank First Corporation operates as a holding company for Bank First, N.A. that provides consumer and commercial financial services to businesses, professionals, consumers, associations, individuals, and governmental authorities in Wisconsin. It offers checking, savings, money market, cash management, retirement, and health savings accounts; other time deposits; certificates of deposit; and residential mortgage products.