South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Receives Consensus Rating of “Buy” from Analysts

Shares of South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $47.60.

SPFI has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings raised South Plains Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research downgraded South Plains Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler reduced their target price on South Plains Financial from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Benchmark began coverage on South Plains Financial in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $53.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded South Plains Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th.

Insider Activity at South Plains Financial

In other news, Director James D. Stein sold 1,560 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.07, for a total value of $62,509.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 342,872 shares in the company, valued at $13,738,881.04. This trade represents a 0.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,204,340. Company insiders own 24.29% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of South Plains Financial

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake 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 valued at $18,584,000 after buying an additional 9,484 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $16,994,000 after buying an additional 57,008 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in South Plains Financial by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 293,340 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,384,000 after acquiring an additional 2,029 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC lifted its position in South Plains Financial by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 181,463 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,041,000 after acquiring an additional 8,749 shares in the last quarter. 54.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

South Plains Financial Stock Performance

SPFI stock opened at $43.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.29 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.35. South Plains Financial has a 1-year low of $35.34 and a 1-year high of $45.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $824.98 million, a PE ratio of 12.07 and a beta of 0.47.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.03). South Plains Financial had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 20.22%.The business had revenue of $54.15 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.08 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that South Plains Financial will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

South Plains Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 27th were paid a $0.17 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 27th. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.05%.

About South Plains Financial

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.