Choreo LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Choreo LLC lowered its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 32.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,838 shares during the quarter. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $552,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 3.2% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 12,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $793,000 after buying an additional 397 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 382.0% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 8,551 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $557,000 after acquiring an additional 6,777 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 6,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC grew its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 6,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $69.34 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10 and a beta of 0.68. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $57.45 and a 52-week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of Lakeland Financial 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,386,912.50. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.