First Trust Advisors LP Has $21.13 Million Stock Position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 54.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 307,242 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 107,765 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.20% of Lakeland Financial worth $21,126,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter worth about $50,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 809.9% during the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $115,000 after buying an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 18.8% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,062 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on Lakeland Financial in a research report on Friday, March 21st. They set a "market perform" rating and a $66.00 target price for the company.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $53.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a PE ratio of 14.74 and a beta of 0.64. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $59.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $65.87. Lakeland Financial Co. has a one year low of $50.00 and a one year high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $90.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. As a group, research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director M Scott Welch acquired 5,000 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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