Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC) Short Interest Up 11.4% in August

Bank First Co. (NASDAQ:BFC) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 198,500 shares, an increase of 11.4% from the August 15th total of 178,200 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 27,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.4 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Bank First

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Quest Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Bank First by 65,700.0% during the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 657 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Bank First in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of Bank First by 5.5% during the second 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 position in shares of Bank First during the first quarter valued at approximately $232,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC boosted its position in Bank First by 102.8% during the first quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC now owns 2,726 shares of the company’s stock worth $236,000 after acquiring an additional 1,382 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 29.95% of the company’s stock.

Bank First Price Performance

NASDAQ:BFC traded up $1.05 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $92.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 321 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,903. The company has a market capitalization of $936.32 million, a PE ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 0.31. Bank First has a 52-week low of $70.00 and a 52-week high of $96.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $88.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.00.

Bank First (NASDAQ:BFC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The company reported $1.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.43 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $55.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.70 million. Bank First had a net margin of 32.18% and a return on equity of 10.07%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Bank First will post 6.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Bank First Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 9th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 25th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 25th. This is an increase from Bank First’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Bank First’s dividend payout ratio is 20.78%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Piper Sandler upped their price objective on shares of Bank First from $84.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th.

Bank First Company Profile

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.