Natixis Advisors LLC Sells 79,443 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Natixis Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 138,781 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 79,443 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.54% of Lakeland Financial worth $9,037,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.6% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 12,800 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $787,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.1% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,679 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.0% in the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 800 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LKFN traded up $1.77 on Friday, reaching $75.38. The stock had a trading volume of 113,282 shares, compared to its average volume of 115,178. The company has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.16 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $67.14 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.59. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $53.97 and a 1-year high of $78.31.

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

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. Lakeland Financial's payout ratio is 49.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $625,938.56. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 16,950 shares of company stock valued at $1,162,383 over the last 90 days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.