Marshall Wace LLP Makes New Investment in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Marshall Wace LLP bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,332 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $390,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. nVerses Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 342.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares during the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. First Merchants Corp bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $215,000. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Lakeland Financial by 7.4% in the first quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 5,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $333,000 after acquiring an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $61.39 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $64.57 and a 200-day moving average of $63.05. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $46.26 and a 1 year high of $73.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96 and a beta of 0.65.

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

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be given a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.13%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.04%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total transaction of $28,597.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares in the company, valued at $119,834.49. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Lakeland Financial news, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total value of $28,597.65. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,834.49. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.93, for a total transaction of $28,950.60. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 7,176 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $494,641.68. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 13,635 shares of company stock valued at $914,604. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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 note on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

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.