Texas Permanent School Fund Corp Trims Stock Holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Texas Permanent School Fund Corp lowered its holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 10.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,343 shares during the period. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 263,434 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,165,000 after buying an additional 12,486 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 19,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,290,000 after buying an additional 8,304 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,847,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,395,000 after buying an additional 42,862 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 1st quarter worth approximately $664,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 132.5% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 98,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,042,000 after buying an additional 55,975 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total value of $28,597.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,834.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CAO Brok A. Lahrman sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.91, for a total value of $28,597.65. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 1,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,834.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total value of $52,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at $625,938.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 13,635 shares of company stock valued at $914,604. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 3.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $69.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.25 and a beta of 0.66. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $44.47 and a 12-month high of $73.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $65.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $63.12.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $68.74 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $60.70 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 23.70%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 25th were issued a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.04%.

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.