Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Increases Dividend to $0.50 Per Share

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 15th,Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Saturday, January 25th will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, February 5th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 24th. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48.

Lakeland Financial has raised its dividend by an average of 12.2% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Lakeland Financial has a payout ratio of 50.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Lakeland Financial to earn $3.55 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.1%.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $68.15 on Friday. Lakeland Financial has a 52-week low of $57.45 and a 52-week high of $78.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.70 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $71.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.31.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.85% and a return on equity of 13.64%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.98 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total value of $290,986.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at $2,386,912.50. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 4,150 shares of company stock worth $305,327. 3.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.