South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) Approves Stock Repurchase Program

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, February 25th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $15.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 2.7% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SPFI. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 target price (down from $46.00) on shares of South Plains Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on South Plains Financial from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

South Plains Financial Price Performance

SPFI traded up $0.32 on Tuesday, hitting $34.21. 36,599 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,692. The business’s fifty day moving average is $35.20 and its 200 day moving average is $35.15. South Plains Financial has a fifty-two week low of $24.05 and a fifty-two week high of $40.90. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $560.70 million, a P/E ratio of 11.72 and a beta of 0.62.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The company reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.67 by $0.29. South Plains Financial had a return on equity of 11.75% and a net margin of 17.20%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.61 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that South Plains Financial will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

South Plains Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.75%. South Plains Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.55%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Curtis C. Griffith sold 21,443 shares of South Plains Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.36, for a total transaction of $758,224.48. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 807,240 shares in the company, valued at $28,544,006.40. The trade was a 2.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 42,061 shares of company stock worth $1,493,613. Insiders own 25.39% of the company’s stock.

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.