Insider Selling: Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Sells 4,635 Shares of Stock

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Eric Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 32,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,165,153.74. This trade represents a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $67.85 on Wednesday. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $78.61. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $63.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.20. The stock has a market cap of $1.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.49 and a beta of 0.63.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. The firm 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 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Hovde Group upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lakeland Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 51,980 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,573,000 after purchasing an additional 1,020 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 807,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,526,000 after buying an additional 6,307 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 15,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,041,000 after buying an additional 827 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,303,000 after buying an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Lakeland Financial by 301.4% in the 4th quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC now owns 6,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $443,000 after buying an additional 4,837 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.