South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) CEO Sells $1,675,000.00 in Stock

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.50, for a total transaction of $1,675,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 865,967 shares in the company, valued at $29,009,894.50. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

South Plains Financial Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of SPFI opened at $39.13 on Friday. South Plains Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.05 and a fifty-two week high of $40.42. The firm has a market cap of $641.34 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.23 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.94 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.92.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.01. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.59%. The business had revenue of $72.28 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $48.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that South Plains Financial, Inc. will post 2.62 earnings per share for the current year.

South Plains Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.53%. This is a positive change from South Plains Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date is Monday, October 28th. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SPFI. Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of South Plains Financial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Hovde Group upped their price objective on South Plains Financial from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On South Plains Financial

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of South Plains Financial by 9.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 364,341 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,837,000 after purchasing an additional 30,665 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in South Plains Financial by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 239,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,451,000 after acquiring an additional 29,933 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in South Plains Financial by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 175,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,725,000 after acquiring an additional 22,695 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning purchased a new position in shares of South Plains Financial in the third quarter valued at about $504,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,732 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,497,000 after acquiring an additional 12,196 shares during the last quarter. 54.95% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About South Plains Financial

South Plains Financial, Inc operates as a bank holding company for City Bank that provides commercial and consumer financial services to small and medium-sized businesses and individuals. The company operates through two segments, Banking and Insurance. It offers deposit products, including demand deposit accounts, interest-bearing products, savings accounts, and certificate of deposits.