Insider Spends US$1.5m Buying More Shares In South Plains Financial

South Plains Financial, Inc. (NASDAQ:SPFI) shareholders (or potential shareholders) will be happy to see that the Independent Director, Noe Valles, recently bought a whopping US$1.5m worth of stock, at a price of US$30.00. Not only is that a big swing, but it increased their holding size by 17%, which is definitely great to see.

View our latest analysis for South Plains Financial

South Plains Financial Insider Transactions Over The Last Year

In the last twelve months, the biggest single sale by an insider was when the Chairman & CEO, Curtis Griffith, sold US$2.5m worth of shares at a price of US$24.75 per share. That means that even when the share price was below the current price of US$32.25, an insider wanted to cash in some shares. When an insider sells below the current price, it suggests that they considered that lower price to be fair. That makes us wonder what they think of the (higher) recent valuation. Please do note, however, that sellers may have a variety of reasons for selling, so we don't know for sure what they think of the stock price. It is worth noting that this sale was only 4.8% of Curtis Griffith's holding. The only individual insider seller over the last year was Curtis Griffith.

Curtis Griffith sold a total of 379.43k shares over the year at an average price of US$26.65. You can see a visual depiction of insider transactions (by companies and individuals) over the last 12 months, below. By clicking on the graph below, you can see the precise details of each insider transaction!

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Does South Plains Financial Boast High Insider Ownership?

Another way to test the alignment between the leaders of a company and other shareholders is to look at how many shares they own. We usually like to see fairly high levels of insider ownership. Insiders own 16% of South Plains Financial shares, worth about US$84m. While this is a strong but not outstanding level of insider ownership, it's enough to indicate some alignment between management and smaller shareholders.

What Might The Insider Transactions At South Plains Financial Tell Us?

Unfortunately, there has been more insider selling of South Plains Financial stock, than buying, in the last three months. And our longer term analysis of insider transactions didn't bring confidence, either. While insiders do own shares, they don't own a heap, and they have been selling. We're in no rush to buy! So these insider transactions can help us build a thesis about the stock, but it's also worthwhile knowing the risks facing this company. Case in point: We've spotted 3 warning signs for South Plains Financial you should be aware of, and 1 of them is concerning.

If you would prefer to check out another company -- one with potentially superior financials -- then do not miss this free list of interesting companies, that have HIGH return on equity and low debt.

For the purposes of this article, insiders are those individuals who report their transactions to the relevant regulatory body. We currently account for open market transactions and private dispositions of direct interests only, but not derivative transactions or indirect interests.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.