Inspire Investing LLC Has $349,000 Stock Holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Inspire Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 5.1% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 277 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $349,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at $494,641.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Kyra E. Clark sold 420 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.93, for a total value of $28,950.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,176 shares in the company, valued at approximately $494,641.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total value of $28,597.65. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,834.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,635 shares of company stock valued at $914,604 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.00.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $67.13 on Tuesday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $45.59 and a 12-month high of $73.22. The company has a market capitalization of $1.71 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.04 and its 200 day moving average is $63.09.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $68.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.70 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 23.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 25th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.04%.

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.