South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Short Interest Update

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 51,900 shares, a growth of 25.4% from the November 30th total of 41,400 shares. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 35,400 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.5 days.

Insider Buying and Selling at South Plains Financial

In other news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.50, for a total transaction of $1,675,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 865,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,009,894.50. This represents a 5.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 25.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On South Plains Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SPFI. Creative Planning bought a new position in shares of South Plains Financial during the third quarter valued at $504,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 72.4% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 4,503 shares of the company’s stock valued at $153,000 after acquiring an additional 1,891 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in South Plains Financial by 4.7% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 274,701 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,318,000 after purchasing an additional 12,271 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 39.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,397 shares of the company’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in South Plains Financial by 29.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 53,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,810,000 after buying an additional 12,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of South Plains Financial from $36.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th.

South Plains Financial Trading Up 0.6 %

SPFI stock traded up $0.21 on Tuesday, reaching $35.08. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 12,388 shares, compared to its average volume of 35,637. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.49. The firm has a market cap of $574.96 million, a PE ratio of 13.65 and a beta of 0.60. South Plains Financial has a 12-month low of $24.05 and a 12-month high of $40.90.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The company reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $72.28 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.90 million. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.39%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that South Plains Financial will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

South Plains Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 12th. Investors of record on Monday, October 28th were paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.71%. This is a positive change from South Plains Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 28th. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 23.35%.

South Plains Financial Company Profile

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.