Donald Robinson-Gay Sells 550 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. This represents a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $65.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.93. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $57.45 and a 12-month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. On average, equities analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 55.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $199,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 82,428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 28,851 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 57,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $616,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.