South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Short Interest Down 21.8% in March

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 52,100 shares, a decrease of 21.8% from the March 15th total of 66,600 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 26,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.0 days. Currently, 0.4% of the company’s shares are sold short.

South Plains Financial Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of SPFI opened at $24.66 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $405.16 million, a P/E ratio of 6.79 and a beta of 0.56. South Plains Financial has a one year low of $18.75 and a one 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $25.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $26.90.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last released 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 return on equity of 11.06% and a net margin of 21.54%. The firm had revenue of $66.38 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $47.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.71 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that South Plains Financial will post 2.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

South Plains Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 29th were issued a dividend of $0.13 per share. This represents a $0.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 26th. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other South Plains Financial news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,253,797 shares in the company, valued at $31,344,925. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $1,250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 1,253,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,344,925. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,103,797 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,318,975.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 26.75% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 9.8% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,258,493 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,329,000 after buying an additional 111,833 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 562,168 shares of the company’s stock worth $14,864,000 after buying an additional 7,563 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 314,552 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,110,000 after buying an additional 37,593 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 237,216 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,340,000 after buying an additional 25,902 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 10.8% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 237,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,337,000 after buying an additional 23,195 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.