Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Sold by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN decreased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 19.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 98,365 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 23,868 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.39% of Lakeland Financial worth $6,764,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $23,111,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter worth $10,560,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $133,419,000 after acquiring an additional 100,001 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 132.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 134,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 76,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,280 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $65,066,000 after purchasing an additional 43,312 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on LKFN. Hovde Group initiated coverage on Lakeland Financial in a research report on Friday, March 21st. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ LKFN traded down $0.34 during trading on Thursday, reaching $54.16. The company's stock had a trading volume of 87,709 shares, compared to its average volume of 130,140. Lakeland Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $50.74 and a twelve month high of $78.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 0.64. The business's fifty day moving average price is $59.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.96.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.10%.

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.