Heartland Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Heartland Advisors Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 22,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 467 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Lakeland Financial worth $1,535,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter valued at about $74,000. KBC Group NV raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 18.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $142,000 after buying an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. This trade represents a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total transaction of $92,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,709.34. This represents a 19.45 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LKFN opened at $60.26 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.57 billion, a PE ratio of 16.60 and a beta of 0.63. The company’s fifty day moving average is $65.27 and its 200 day moving average is $67.48. Lakeland Financial Co. has a fifty-two week low of $57.45 and a fifty-two week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Investors of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 55.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LKFN. Hovde Group began coverage on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Friday, March 21st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 target price (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

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.