South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Increases Dividend to $0.14 Per Share

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, April 18th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Monday, April 29th will be given a dividend of 0.14 per share on Monday, May 13th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 26th. This is a boost from South Plains Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.13.

South Plains Financial has increased its dividend by an average of 54.9% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 4 years. South Plains Financial has a payout ratio of 20.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect South Plains Financial to earn $2.57 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.52 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 20.2%.

South Plains Financial Stock Up 2.2 %

SPFI opened at $26.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $25.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.86. The company has a market cap of $427.18 million, a PE ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 0.56. South Plains Financial has a 1 year low of $18.75 and a 1 year high of $30.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 0.91.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 26th. The company reported $0.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $66.38 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $47.25 million. South Plains Financial had a return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 21.54%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that South Plains Financial will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other South Plains Financial news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $2,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,103,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,318,975.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other South Plains Financial news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total value of $2,475,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,103,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,318,975.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Noe G. Valles bought 30,000 shares of South Plains Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $27.00 per share, with a total value of $810,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 195,512 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,278,824. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 25.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On South Plains Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SPFI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 130.2% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 36,373 shares of the company’s stock valued at $966,000 after buying an additional 20,571 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 57.0% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 6,104 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,000 after buying an additional 2,216 shares during the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 56,408 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,499,000 after buying an additional 4,454 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 40.1% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 73,348 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,950,000 after buying an additional 21,002 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 503,730 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,390,000 after buying an additional 2,282 shares during the last quarter. 54.95% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Raymond James increased their target price on shares of South Plains Financial from $28.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th.

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.