Insider Selling: Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Sells 3,959 Shares of Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,386,912.50. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $72.11 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $66.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.47. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $53.97 and a 52-week high of $78.31. The company has a market capitalization of $1.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.73 and a beta of 0.65.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.85% and a return on equity of 13.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 49.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 29.5% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 250,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,289,000 after buying an additional 56,928 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake 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 acquiring an additional 55,975 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 686.8% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 57,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,510,000 after acquiring an additional 49,800 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after acquiring an additional 28,851 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,276,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,154,000 after purchasing an additional 27,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th.

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.