Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. Purchases 26,767 Shares of South Plains Financial, Inc. $SPFI

Key Points

• Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. increased its stake in South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI) by 33.5%, acquiring 26,767 shares to own 106,782 shares worth about $4.14 million (0.66% of the company).
• Analyst sentiment is broadly positive — five Buys and one Hold produce a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target price of $46.75, and several firms recently raised ratings or targets.
• South Plains beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.90 vs. $0.84), approved a $10 million share repurchase program (≈1.5% of shares) and raised its quarterly dividend to $0.17, signaling management confidence.

Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. boosted its position in shares of South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI - Free Report) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 106,782 shares of the company's stock after acquiring an additional 26,767 shares during the quarter. Deprince Race & Zollo Inc. owned 0.66% of South Plains Financial worth $4,143,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SPFI. State of Alaska Department of Revenue bought a new stake in South Plains Financial during the third quarter worth $25,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in South Plains Financial during the second quarter worth $32,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in South Plains Financial during the third quarter worth $57,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in South Plains Financial during the third quarter worth $60,000. Finally, CWM LLC raised its position in South Plains Financial by 26.3% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,119 shares of the company's stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 441 shares in the last quarter. 54.95% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on SPFI. Raymond James Financial upped their price objective on shares of South Plains Financial from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Hovde Group increased their price objective on shares of South Plains Financial from $47.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Piper Sandler raised shares of South Plains Financial from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $48.00 in a research report on Monday, March 2nd. Zacks Research lowered shares of South Plains Financial from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of South Plains Financial in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $46.75.

South Plains Financial Price Performance

Shares of SPFI opened at $44.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $722.06 million, a PE ratio of 12.85 and a beta of 0.54. The company's 50-day moving average is $42.01 and its 200-day moving average is $39.96. South Plains Financial, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.36 and a fifty-two week high of $44.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.94 and a quick ratio of 0.94.

South Plains Financial (NASDAQ:SPFI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.84 by $0.06. South Plains Financial had a net margin of 19.69% and a return on equity of 12.51%. The company had revenue of $54.25 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $54.11 million. Equities analysts forecast that South Plains Financial, Inc. will post 2.85 EPS for the current year.

South Plains Financial declared that its board has approved 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 usually an indication that the company's board believes its shares are undervalued.

South Plains Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, February 17th. Investors of record on Monday, February 2nd were given a dividend of $0.17 per share. This is a positive change from South Plains Financial's previous quarterly dividend of $0.16. This represents a $0.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, February 2nd. South Plains Financial's payout ratio is 19.77%.

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.

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