BOK Financial Co. (NASDAQ:BOKF) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

BOK Financial Co. (NASDAQ:BOKF) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 430,800 shares, a growth of 31.0% from the February 28th total of 328,900 shares. Currently, 1.7% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 134,800 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.2 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On BOK Financial

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in BOK Financial by 433.0% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 9,216 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $981,000 after purchasing an additional 7,487 shares in the last quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management purchased a new stake in BOK Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $444,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of BOK Financial by 85.3% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,245 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $984,000 after purchasing an additional 4,256 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of BOK Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $6,138,000. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new position in BOK Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $256,000. 34.44% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

BOK Financial Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of BOKF stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $103.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,120 shares, compared to its average volume of 143,145. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.76 and a beta of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.37 and its 200 day simple moving average is $109.24. BOK Financial has a one year low of $85.02 and a one year high of $121.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

BOK Financial (NASDAQ:BOKF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 17th. The bank reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.97 by $0.15. BOK Financial had a return on equity of 9.86% and a net margin of 15.32%. Equities research analysts expect that BOK Financial will post 8.83 EPS for the current year.

BOK Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.57 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 12th. This represents a $2.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.20%. BOK Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 28.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on BOKF shares. StockNews.com cut BOK Financial from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of BOK Financial from $112.00 to $125.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of BOK Financial from $105.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on BOK Financial from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Finally, Stephens reduced their price target on BOK Financial from $135.00 to $127.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, BOK Financial presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $119.11.

BOK Financial Company Profile

BOK Financial Corporation operates as the financial holding company for BOKF, NA that provides various financial products and services in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Northwest Arkansas, Colorado, Arizona, and Kansas/Missouri. It operates through three segments: Commercial Banking, Consumer Banking, and Wealth Management.