Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Sells $92,910.00 in Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total value of $92,910.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,211 shares in the company, valued at $384,709.34. The trade was a 19.45 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.9 %

LKFN opened at $60.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.75 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.72. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $57.45 and a 12 month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of LKFN. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 809.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the third quarter worth about $74,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.