Sippican Capital Advisors Increases Stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Sippican Capital Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 21.3% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 18,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,330 shares during the period. Sippican Capital Advisors’ holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $1,233,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,847,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,395,000 after acquiring an additional 42,862 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 816,549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,232,000 after buying an additional 11,118 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 233,836 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,386,000 after purchasing an additional 12,846 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 232,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,327,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 132.5% in the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 98,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,042,000 after purchasing an additional 55,975 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Kristin Pruitt sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $804,720.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 10,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $687,499.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, President Kristin Pruitt sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $804,720.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 10,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $687,499.12. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at $625,938.56. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LKFN traded down $0.07 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $66.78. 4,202 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 112,920. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.38. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1 year low of $48.21 and a 1 year high of $73.22. The company has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47 and a beta of 0.65.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.70% and a return on equity of 14.72%. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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 report on Monday, July 29th.

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.