Graham Capital Management L.P. Invests $277,000 in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $277,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of LKFN. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth about $23,111,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth approximately $10,560,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 54.0% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 307,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,126,000 after purchasing an additional 107,765 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,419,000 after purchasing an additional 100,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 132.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 134,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 76,562 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In related news, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total value of $92,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,709.34. This trade represents a 19.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director M Scott Welch purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 39,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,394,600. The trade was a 14.71% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock opened at $61.10 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $57.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.21. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $50.00 and a 12 month high of $78.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83 and a beta of 0.58.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.09). Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. The firm had revenue of $90.46 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is currently 57.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on LKFN. Hovde Group upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 28th.

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.