Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director M Scott Welch Acquires 5,000 Shares

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director M Scott Welch bought 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.40 per share, for a total transaction of $307,000.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of LKFN opened at $61.38 on Thursday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $57.45 and a twelve month high of $78.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.96.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. Sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. 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. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Lakeland Financial by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after buying an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC grew its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.7% during the 4th quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,773,000 after purchasing an additional 51,624 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in Lakeland Financial by 53.5% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Lakeland Financial by 44.3% during the 4th quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.