South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) Director James Stein Sells 4,936 Shares

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Director James Stein sold 4,936 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.06, for a total value of $197,736.16. Following the sale, the director owned 357,936 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,338,916.16. This trade represents a 1.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

South Plains Financial Stock Down 0.5%

NASDAQ SPFI opened at $39.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $754.32 million, a PE ratio of 11.03 and a beta of 0.48. South Plains Financial, Inc. has a one year low of $33.66 and a one year high of $45.09. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $54.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.08 million. South Plains Financial had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 20.22%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that South Plains Financial, Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

South Plains Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Investors of record on Monday, April 27th were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 27th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 19.05%.

South Plains Financial announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 23rd that allows the company to buyback $10.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in South Plains Financial by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 706,328 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,300,000 after buying an additional 7,889 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 480,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,584,000 after purchasing an additional 9,484 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 15.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 437,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,994,000 after purchasing an additional 57,008 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 293,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 181,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,041,000 after purchasing an additional 8,749 shares during the last quarter. 54.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPFI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered South Plains Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Weiss Ratings upgraded South Plains Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on South Plains Financial from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Hovde Group increased their price target on South Plains Financial from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded South Plains Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $46.25.

South Plains Financial Company Profile

South Plains Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for South Plains Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Lubbock, Texas. The company operates as a full-service commercial bank, providing a broad spectrum of banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and agricultural clients. Its principal subsidiary, South Plains Bank, holds state and national banking charters and is subject to regulatory oversight by the Federal Reserve and various state banking authorities.

The company’s product offerings include traditional deposit accounts such as checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as time deposits.