South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Plans $0.14 Quarterly Dividend

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 paid 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.

South Plains Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 54.9% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 4 consecutive years. South Plains Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 20.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ SPFI opened at $26.00 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $25.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $26.86. The firm has a market cap of $427.18 million, a P/E ratio of 7.16 and a beta of 0.56. South Plains Financial has a 52 week low of $18.75 and a 52 week high of $30.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27.

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $24.75, for a total transaction of $2,475,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,103,797 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,318,975.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 1,103,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,318,975.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Noe G. Valles acquired 30,000 shares of South Plains Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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. Insiders own 25.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. increased its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 9.8% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,258,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,329,000 after acquiring an additional 111,833 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 562,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,864,000 after acquiring an additional 7,563 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 314,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,110,000 after acquiring an additional 37,593 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 237,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,340,000 after acquiring an additional 25,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 237,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,337,000 after acquiring an additional 23,195 shares during the last quarter. 54.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Raymond James upped their price objective on 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.