Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL Boosts Position in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL increased its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 199,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,650 shares during the period. Lakeland Financial accounts for about 0.4% of Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. Timucuan Asset Management Inc. FL owned 0.78% of Lakeland Financial worth $11,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. CWM LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares during the period. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $229,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 0.8%

LKFN stock opened at $68.38 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $63.69 and a 200 day moving average of $61.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of 18.63 and a beta of 0.63. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 52 week low of $50.00 and a 52 week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $63.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.02 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.55% and a return on equity of 13.57%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $310,869.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,165,153.74. This trade represents a 12.56% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $166,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,292,899.52. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 7,435 shares of company stock valued at $497,769 over the last three months. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LKFN has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Monday, July 28th. Hovde Group upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial 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.