South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) Hits New 12-Month High Following Dividend Announcement

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) reached a new 52-week high on Friday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $44.72 and last traded at $44.9050, with a volume of 34780 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $43.30.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, May 11th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 27th. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.5%. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SPFI has been the topic of several research 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 raised shares of South Plains Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $48.00 in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of South Plains Financial in a report on Monday, December 22nd. Hovde Group boosted their target price on South Plains Financial from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upped their price target on South Plains Financial from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $46.75.

South Plains Financial Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.04. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a market cap of $732.96 million, a PE ratio of 13.02 and a beta of 0.54.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 19.69% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The firm had revenue of $54.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.11 million. As a group, equities research analysts expect that South Plains Financial, Inc. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

South Plains Financial announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Monday, February 23rd that allows the company to buyback $10.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to purchase up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in South Plains Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in South Plains Financial during the second quarter worth $32,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of South Plains Financial during the third quarter worth $57,000. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of South Plains Financial in the third quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of South Plains Financial by 26.3% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the company’s stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 441 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

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.