Insider Selling: Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Sells $36,437.50 in Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. This represents a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

LKFN opened at $66.41 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.29 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $67.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $67.91. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $57.45 and a 12-month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Albert D Mason Inc. lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 22,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,557,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,736,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 50,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,448,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 16,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 306 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report 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.