South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) to Repurchase $10.00 million in Outstanding Shares

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, February 23rd, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $10.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to buy up to 1.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Hovde Group upped their price objective on shares of South Plains Financial from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of South Plains Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Zacks Research raised shares of South Plains Financial from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of South Plains Financial in a research note on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price objective on shares of South Plains Financial from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, South Plains Financial has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $46.00.

South Plains Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ SPFI opened at $42.34 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $688.03 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.31 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. South Plains Financial has a twelve month low of $30.01 and a twelve month high of $44.00. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.94 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.52.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. South Plains Financial had a return on equity of 12.75% and a net margin of 19.69%.The firm had revenue of $53.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.11 million. Sell-side analysts expect that South Plains Financial will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

South Plains Financial Increases Dividend

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

About South Plains Financial

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.