JPMorgan Chase & Co. Acquires 1,100 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 57,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned about 0.23% of Lakeland Financial worth $3,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 58.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.0% during the third quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 12,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $793,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its position 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 valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 890 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

NASDAQ LKFN opened at $68.39 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.76 and a beta of 0.69. The company’s 50 day moving average is $71.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.40. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $57.45 and a 12 month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at $2,386,912.50. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 4,150 shares of company stock valued at $305,327 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial 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.