Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Raises Stock Position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 946,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 43,312 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned 3.71% of Lakeland Financial worth $65,066,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. State Street Corp raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,276,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,154,000 after purchasing an additional 27,556 shares during the period. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 764,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,545,000 after purchasing an additional 18,247 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 605,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,406,000 after buying an additional 5,562 shares during the period. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 29.5% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,289,000 after buying an additional 56,928 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 210,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,469,000 after buying an additional 3,056 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $61.38 on Thursday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $57.45 and a 1 year high of $78.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.96. The company has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 0.63.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.10%.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other news, Director M Scott Welch acquired 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. This trade represents a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.