South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) CEO Curtis C. Griffith Sells 9,591 Shares

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 9,591 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.10, for a total value of $288,689.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 987,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,717,940.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

South Plains Financial Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of SPFI stock opened at $30.63 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $502.91 million, a P/E ratio of 8.19 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day moving average is $28.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $27.13. South Plains Financial, Inc. has a twelve month low of $23.75 and a twelve month high of $33.85.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $71.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $46.50 million. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 16.53% and a return on equity of 11.58%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that South Plains Financial, Inc. will post 2.52 EPS for the current year.

South Plains Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 12th. Stockholders of record on Monday, July 29th will be paid a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 29th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.83%. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 14.97%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On South Plains Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPFI. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in South Plains Financial by 14.9% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 175,013 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,725,000 after purchasing an additional 22,695 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC increased its position in South Plains Financial by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 239,078 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,451,000 after purchasing an additional 29,933 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in South Plains Financial by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 63,462 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 4,787 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in South Plains Financial by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 541,732 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,497,000 after purchasing an additional 12,196 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in South Plains Financial by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 95,172 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,547,000 after purchasing an additional 7,175 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Hovde Group boosted their target price on South Plains Financial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 19th. Piper Sandler boosted their target price on South Plains Financial from $32.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

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.