Insider Selling: Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Sells 550 Shares of Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total transaction of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares in the company, valued at $329,527.50. This represents a 9.96 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of LKFN opened at $66.41 on Friday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a one year low of $57.45 and a one year high of $78.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $67.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.91. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.68.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. Analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth $23,111,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth $10,560,000. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 54.0% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 307,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,126,000 after purchasing an additional 107,765 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $133,419,000 after purchasing an additional 100,001 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 132.2% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 134,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,248,000 after purchasing an additional 76,562 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.