Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 255 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 68,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC owned 0.27% of Lakeland Financial worth $4,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at about $53,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,000. KBC Group NV lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 62.3% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after buying an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,000 after buying an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 1.4 %

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $65.59 on Friday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $57.45 and a 52 week high of $78.61. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $68.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07 and a beta of 0.68.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping 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, equities analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.10%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

About Lakeland Financial

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.