Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director Sells $357,658.00 in Stock

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director Bradley Toothaker sold 5,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total transaction of $357,658.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 14,278 shares in the company, valued at $865,532.36. This represents a 29.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 2.6%

Lakeland Financial stock traded down $1.58 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $59.05. The company had a trading volume of 55,588 shares, compared to its average volume of 174,540. The business has a fifty day moving average of $59.39 and a 200 day moving average of $59.05. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $54.36 and a 1 year high of $69.40. The stock has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.83 and a beta of 0.73.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 25.81% and a return on equity of 14.79%. The firm had revenue of $69.71 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.42 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, April 25th were given a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 24th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 48.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 13.0% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 60,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,614,000 after buying an additional 6,987 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 90.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 32,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,927,000 after buying an additional 15,404 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.1% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $884,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 327.9% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 199,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,848,000 after buying an additional 152,738 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter worth about $215,000. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 19th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Hovde Group boosted their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lakeland Financial currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.50.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation is a bank holding company based in Warsaw, Indiana, that operates through its principal subsidiary, Lakeland Bank. The company offers a full range of commercial and consumer banking services, including deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan offerings spanning commercial real estate, agricultural, mortgage, consumer and small-business lending.

Originally organized in 1893 as Kosciusko County State Bank, the enterprise reorganized as a bank holding company in 1984 to facilitate strategic growth and diversification.