South Plains Financial, Inc. Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.15 (NASDAQ:SPFI)

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 23rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share on Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd.

South Plains Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 23.1% annually over the last three years. South Plains Financial has a dividend payout ratio of 19.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect South Plains Financial to earn $2.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 22.2%.

South Plains Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:SPFI opened at $36.75 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $36.52 and a 200-day moving average of $34.35. South Plains Financial has a twelve month low of $24.05 and a twelve month high of $40.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $602.33 million, a P/E ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.29. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.39%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that South Plains Financial will post 2.62 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at South Plains Financial

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Hovde Group raised 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 report on Friday, October 25th.

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.