Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock Price

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) had its price objective decreased by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $68.00 to $66.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 16.22% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.67.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 2.5%

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $56.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.98 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $64.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $61.91. Lakeland Financial has a 1-year low of $50.00 and a 1-year high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $69.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.15 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.77% and a net margin of 23.23%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value 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 $2,165,153.74. The trade was a 12.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. CWM LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 7,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $483,000 after buying an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. State of Wyoming now owns 4,523 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $269,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 12,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $768,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbour Investments Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Lakeland Financial

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.