Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Sells 650 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. cut its position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 10.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 650 shares during the period. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $53,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at $74,000. KBC Group NV raised its stake 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 valued at $115,000 after purchasing an additional 642 shares during the period. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake 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 valued at $138,000 after purchasing an additional 890 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated 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.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In related news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total transaction of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares in the company, valued at $329,527.50. This represents a 9.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 0.0 %

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $66.42 on Tuesday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $57.45 and a 52 week high of $78.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $67.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.07. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 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 return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.10%.

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.