Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Sells $36,437.50 in Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $65.80 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $67.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.93. The stock has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a PE ratio of 18.13 and a beta of 0.68. Lakeland Financial Co. has a one year low of $57.45 and a one year high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 55.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,773,000 after purchasing an additional 51,624 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 53.5% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a 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.