Insider Buying: Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director Buys 10,000 Shares of Stock

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director M Scott Welch bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $57.95 per share, with a total value of $579,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 49,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,839,550. This trade represents a 25.64% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 3.9%

LKFN stock traded down $2.33 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $57.71. The stock had a trading volume of 152,938 shares, compared to its average volume of 171,393. The firm has a market cap of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.40 and a beta of 0.75. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $69.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $61.04.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.02. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $69.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.45 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 5th. Investors of record on Sunday, January 25th were paid a dividend of $0.52 per share. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 23rd. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.87%.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,887,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $107,719,000 after acquiring an additional 19,967 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,354,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,237,000 after purchasing an additional 57,252 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,049,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,867,000 after purchasing an additional 15,610 shares during the last quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 6.3% during the third quarter. Neumeier Poma Investment Counsel LLC now owns 493,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,681,000 after purchasing an additional 29,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP grew its position in Lakeland Financial by 403.6% in the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 383,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,568,000 after purchasing an additional 307,371 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on LKFN. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Hovde Group lowered shares of Lakeland Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Stephens set a $66.00 price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

Lakeland Financial Company Profile

Lakeland Financial Corporation is a bank holding company based in Warsaw, Indiana, that operates through its principal subsidiary, Lakeland Bank. The company offers a full range of commercial and consumer banking services, including deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan offerings spanning commercial real estate, agricultural, mortgage, consumer and small-business lending.

Originally organized in 1893 as Kosciusko County State Bank, the enterprise reorganized as a bank holding company in 1984 to facilitate strategic growth and diversification.