South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Benchmark

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) was upgraded by investment analysts at Benchmark to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded South Plains Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Zacks Research lowered South Plains Financial from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Piper Sandler decreased their price target on South Plains Financial from $48.00 to $46.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered South Plains Financial from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $47.60.

South Plains Financial Trading Up 1.6%

SPFI opened at $42.85 on Wednesday. South Plains Financial has a 1-year low of $35.20 and a 1-year high of $45.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $820.58 million, a PE ratio of 12.00 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.26.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 28th. The company reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $54.15 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $54.08 million. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 20.22% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that South Plains Financial will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director James D. Stein sold 13,504 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.01, for a total value of $540,295.04. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 344,432 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,780,724.32. This represents a 3.77% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 30,000 shares of company stock worth $1,204,340. 24.29% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On South Plains Financial

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SPFI. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of South Plains Financial by 2.0% during the third quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 480,837 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,584,000 after purchasing an additional 9,484 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in South Plains Financial by 15.0% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 437,995 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,994,000 after purchasing an additional 57,008 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,029 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bridgeway Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in South Plains Financial by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 181,463 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,041,000 after buying an additional 8,749 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 54.95% of the company’s stock.

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.