WINTON GROUP Ltd Increases Stock Position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter valued at about $23,111,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,560,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,419,000 after purchasing an additional 100,001 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,066,000 after purchasing an additional 43,312 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 130.5% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after buying an additional 28,851 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on LKFN shares. Hovde Group assumed coverage on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 price target for the company. 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 report on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In related news, Director M Scott Welch purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. The trade was 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 insiders.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of LKFN opened at $60.26 on Friday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $57.45 and a 52 week high of $78.61. The firm has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.60 and a beta of 0.63. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $65.27 and a 200-day moving average of $67.48.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.10%.

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.