Cerity Partners LLC Acquires 4,371 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Cerity Partners LLC increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 40.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,371 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC owned 0.06% of Lakeland Financial worth $992,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the second quarter worth $31,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 342.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 33,337.5% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,667 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $625,938.56. This represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $290,986.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,386,912.50. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,950 shares of company stock valued at $357,663 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of LKFN opened at $74.99 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.48 and a beta of 0.67. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $57.45 and a 1 year high of $78.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.53 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.38.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 49.87%.

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.