Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP James Rickard Donovan Sells 800 Shares

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $625,938.56. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ:LKFN traded up $1.34 on Monday, reaching $66.82. 44,607 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 114,001. The firm has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09 and a beta of 0.66. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $44.47 and a 52 week high of $73.22. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.27 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.99.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.85 by $0.02. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.70% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $68.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.70 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 25th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 53.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of LKFN. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 100.9% in the fourth quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 145,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,477,000 after buying an additional 73,045 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 132.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 98,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,042,000 after buying an additional 55,975 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 686.8% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 57,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,510,000 after buying an additional 49,800 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $3,015,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,847,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,395,000 after buying an additional 42,862 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.