Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Invests $10.56 Million in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 153,574 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,560,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.60% of Lakeland Financial as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 58.0% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Point72 DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,000. US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC grew its holdings in 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 period. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

LKFN stock opened at $68.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.37 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.40. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $57.45 and a 52-week high of $78.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76 and a beta of 0.69.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. The business had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, January 25th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.92%. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 49.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,386,912.50. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,150 shares of company stock worth $305,327. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.