Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP James Rickard Donovan Sells 800 Shares

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was 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 owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at $625,938.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

LKFN stock opened at $66.45 on Tuesday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $44.47 and a fifty-two week high of $73.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.36 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $65.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $63.01.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $68.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $60.70 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 23.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 25th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 25th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,847,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,395,000 after acquiring an additional 42,862 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 816,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,232,000 after purchasing an additional 11,118 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 263,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,165,000 after buying an additional 12,486 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.8% in the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 233,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,386,000 after buying an additional 12,846 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.3% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 232,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,327,000 after buying an additional 684 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% 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.