Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 27,214 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 902,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 27,214 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 3.54% of Lakeland Financial worth $58,801,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 816,549 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $50,232,000 after buying an additional 11,118 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.8% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 233,836 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $14,386,000 after buying an additional 12,846 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 0.3% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 232,888 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,327,000 after buying an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 132.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 98,219 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $6,042,000 after buying an additional 55,975 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 15.6% in the third quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 75,418 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,911,000 after buying an additional 10,194 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of LKFN stock traded down $1.04 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $73.46. 79,929 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 114,907. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $55.18 and a 1 year high of $78.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 0.65. The company's 50 day moving average is $68.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.13.

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

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio is 49.87%.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In related news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $290,986.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,386,912.50. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total value of $52,336.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $625,938.56. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 4,950 shares of company stock valued at $357,663 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company's stock.

About Lakeland Financial

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.