Eric H. Ottinger Sells 3,959 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at $2,386,912.50. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock traded down $0.50 on Tuesday, hitting $72.67. The stock had a trading volume of 81,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 115,328. Lakeland Financial Co. has a one year low of $53.97 and a one year high of $78.31. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $66.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.39. The stock has a market cap of $1.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88 and a beta of 0.65.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.85% and a return on equity of 13.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.64%. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 605,007 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,406,000 after purchasing an additional 5,562 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,320,000 after buying an additional 28,851 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,276,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $83,154,000 after acquiring an additional 27,556 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 66,295 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $74,000. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Lake City Bank that provides various banking products and services in the United States. The company accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest bearing, interest-bearing checking, savings, money market, NOW, and demand deposits.