South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) Short Interest Up 67.0% in March

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 137,671 shares, a growth of 67.0% from the February 26th total of 82,457 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 88,726 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.6 days. Approximately 1.1% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On South Plains Financial

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in South Plains Financial by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 706,328 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,300,000 after purchasing an additional 7,889 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 2.0% in the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 480,837 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,584,000 after purchasing an additional 9,484 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 437,995 shares of the company’s stock valued at $16,994,000 after purchasing an additional 57,008 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in shares of South Plains Financial by 10.6% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 306,343 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,041,000 after buying an additional 29,420 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of South Plains Financial by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 293,340 shares of the company’s stock worth $11,384,000 after buying an additional 2,029 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

South Plains Financial Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:SPFI opened at $41.27 on Friday. South Plains Financial has a 52-week low of $30.01 and a 52-week high of $44.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 0.94. The company has a market capitalization of $673.94 million, a P/E ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $41.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.70.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $54.25 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.11 million. South Plains Financial had a return on equity of 12.51% and a net margin of 19.69%. Sell-side analysts forecast that South Plains Financial will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

South Plains Financial declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Monday, February 23rd that allows the company to buyback $10.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 1.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

South Plains Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.17 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 2nd. This represents a $0.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.6%. This is an increase from South Plains Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler raised South Plains Financial from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Hovde Group lifted their target price on South Plains Financial from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on South Plains Financial from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Zacks Research raised South Plains Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of South Plains Financial in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have issued a Buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, South Plains Financial has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $46.75.

South Plains Financial Company Profile

South Plains Financial, Inc is the bank holding company for South Plains Bank, a community-oriented financial institution headquartered in Lubbock, Texas. The company operates as a full-service commercial bank, providing a broad spectrum of banking solutions to individuals, small businesses and agricultural clients. Its principal subsidiary, South Plains Bank, holds state and national banking charters and is subject to regulatory oversight by the Federal Reserve and various state banking authorities.

The company’s product offerings include traditional deposit accounts such as checking, savings and money market accounts, as well as time deposits.