South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Receives $47.60 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) has received an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $47.60.

SPFI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of South Plains Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on shares of 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 assumed coverage on South Plains Financial in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised South Plains Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of South Plains Financial from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b+)” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at South Plains Financial

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPFI. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 33.5% during the fourth quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. now owns 106,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,143,000 after purchasing an additional 26,767 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 9.9% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 380,987 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,725,000 after buying an additional 34,420 shares during the period. Elizabeth Park Capital Advisors Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of South Plains Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,624,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 158.2% in the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,697 shares of the company’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 4,103 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC purchased a new stake in shares of South Plains Financial during the 4th quarter worth $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

South Plains Financial Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ SPFI opened at $42.71 on Wednesday. South Plains Financial has a 1-year low of $35.34 and a 1-year high of $45.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.93. The business’s 50 day moving average is $41.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $817.90 million, a P/E ratio of 11.96 and a beta of 0.46.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last announced its 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 company had revenue of $54.15 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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, research analysts expect that South Plains Financial will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

South Plains Financial Announces Dividend

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

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.