Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 100,001 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 7.61% of Lakeland Financial worth $133,419,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $199,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 82,428 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 28,851 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 57,933 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company's stock.
Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial
In other Lakeland Financial news, Director M Scott Welch bought 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,394,600. This represents a 14.71 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total value of $92,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,211 shares in the company, valued at approximately $384,709.34. This represents a 19.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of brokerages have weighed in on LKFN. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Friday, March 21st. They set a "market perform" rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on LKFN
Lakeland Financial Stock Performance
Shares of LKFN traded down $0.73 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $51.69. 160,477 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 124,373. The stock's 50-day moving average is $62.16 and its 200-day moving average is $66.57. Lakeland Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $50.94 and a fifty-two week high of $78.61. The company has a market cap of $1.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.24 and a beta of 0.64.
Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.
Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.87%. Lakeland Financial's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.10%.
Lakeland Financial Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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