Reviewing South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) and Regions Financial (NYSE:RF)

Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) and South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) are both finance companies, but which is the superior business? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their dividends, earnings, profitability, valuation, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Analyst Ratings

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Regions Financial and South Plains Financial, as reported by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Regions Financial	3	9	6	0	2.17
South Plains Financial	0	0	5	1	3.17

Regions Financial currently has a consensus price target of $29.91, indicating a potential upside of 18.99%. South Plains Financial has a consensus price target of $46.75, indicating a potential upside of 13.28%. Given Regions Financial’s higher possible upside, research analysts plainly believe Regions Financial is more favorable than South Plains Financial.

Valuation & Earnings

This table compares Regions Financial and South Plains Financial”s top-line revenue, earnings per share (EPS) and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Regions Financial	$9.61 billion	2.26	$2.16 billion	$2.29	10.98
South Plains Financial	$296.89 million	2.27	$58.47 million	$3.44	12.00

Regions Financial has higher revenue and earnings than South Plains Financial. Regions Financial is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than South Plains Financial, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider and Institutional Ownership

79.4% of Regions Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 55.0% of South Plains Financial shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Regions Financial shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 25.4% of South Plains Financial shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Regions Financial and South Plains Financial’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Regions Financial	22.44%	12.55%	1.37%
South Plains Financial	19.69%	12.51%	1.32%

Risk & Volatility

Regions Financial has a beta of 1.02, meaning that its share price is 2% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, South Plains Financial has a beta of 0.6, meaning that its share price is 40% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Dividends

Regions Financial pays an annual dividend of $1.06 per share and has a dividend yield of 4.2%. South Plains Financial pays an annual dividend of $0.68 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.6%. Regions Financial pays out 46.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. South Plains Financial pays out 19.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. Regions Financial has raised its dividend for 12 consecutive years and South Plains Financial has raised its dividend for 5 consecutive years. Regions Financial is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Summary

Regions Financial beats South Plains Financial on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Regions Financial

Regions Financial Corporation, a financial holding company, provides banking and bank-related services to individual and corporate customers. It operates through three segments: Corporate Bank, Consumer Bank, and Wealth Management. The Corporate Bank segment offers commercial banking services, such as commercial and industrial, commercial real estate, and investor real estate lending; equipment lease financing; deposit products; and securities underwriting and placement, loan syndication and placement, foreign exchange, derivatives, merger and acquisition, and other advisory services. It serves corporate, middle market, and commercial real estate developers and investors. The Consumer Bank segment provides consumer banking products and services related to residential first mortgages, home equity lines and loans, consumer credit cards, and other consumer loans, as well as deposits. The Wealth Management segment offers credit related products, and retirement and savings solutions; and trust and investment management, asset management, and estate planning services to individuals, businesses, governmental institutions, and non-profit entities. It also provides investment and insurance products; low-income housing tax credit corporate fund syndication services; and other specialty financing services. The company was founded in 1971 and is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

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. The company also provides commercial real estate loans; general and specialized commercial loans, including agricultural production and real estate, energy, finance, investment, and insurance loans, as well as loans to goods, services, restaurant and retail, construction, and other industries; residential construction loans; and 1-4 family residential loans, auto loans, and other loans for recreational vehicles or other purposes. In addition, it offers crop insurance products; trust products and services; investment services; mortgage banking services; online and mobile banking services; and debit and credit cards. The company was founded in 1941 and is headquartered in Lubbock, Texas.