Insider Selling: Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Sells $52,336.00 in Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,568 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $625,938.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 0.3 %

Lakeland Financial stock opened at $67.69 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 0.66. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $44.47 and a 12-month high of $73.22. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.07.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.85 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $68.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $60.70 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.72% and a net margin of 23.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 25th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 25th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 53.04%.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 342.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. First Merchants Corp purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the second quarter worth approximately $215,000. Sippican Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Finally, Aigen Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $282,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

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.