Caxton Associates LLP Acquires New Stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Caxton Associates LLP purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 13,011 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $773,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LKFN. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 327.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 199,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,848,000 after buying an additional 152,738 shares in the last quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 679.5% in the first quarter. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC now owns 113,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,726,000 after buying an additional 98,641 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the first quarter worth about $4,795,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 9,426.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 64,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,833,000 after buying an additional 63,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.6% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 999,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,383,000 after buying an additional 52,753 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In related news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $310,869.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 32,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,165,153.74. This represents a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total value of $166,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,292,899.52. The trade was a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,435 shares of company stock valued at $497,769. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price target (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ LKFN opened at $65.77 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 0.64. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $65.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.25. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $63.36 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.02 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 22.55%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 54.50%.

Lakeland Financial 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.