State Street Corp Boosts Stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

State Street Corp lifted its position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 2.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,276,929 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 27,556 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned about 5.01% of Lakeland Financial worth $83,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 3rd quarter worth $199,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the third quarter worth about $616,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 41.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 82,428 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 233,836 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $14,386,000 after purchasing an additional 12,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 902,968 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $58,801,000 after purchasing an additional 27,214 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock traded down $1.22 on Tuesday, hitting $72.50. 266,192 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 115,233. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.10. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $57.45 and a 52 week high of $78.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04 and a beta of 0.67.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 analysts' expectations of $59.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.87%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $290,986.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,386,912.50. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold a total of 4,150 shares of company stock valued at $305,327 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by 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.