Legal & General Group Plc Takes $3.53 Million Position in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 57,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,531,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the second quarter valued at about $224,600,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,887,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $107,719,000 after purchasing an additional 19,967 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 4.4% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,354,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,237,000 after purchasing an additional 57,252 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,049,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,867,000 after purchasing an additional 15,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the second quarter valued at $30,699,466. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on LKFN shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Lakeland Financial from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, August 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.50.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $60.57 on Friday. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $54.36 and a 12-month high of $68.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.89 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $60.07.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $70.87 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.11 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 26.04% and a return on equity of 14.67%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 4.38 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, July 25th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 24th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 47.71%.

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.