Bradley Toothaker Sells 5,900 Shares of Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director Bradley Toothaker sold 5,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.62, for a total value of $357,658.00. Following the sale, the director owned 14,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $865,532.36. This trade represents a 29.24% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $60.11 on Wednesday. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $54.36 and a fifty-two week high of $69.40. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.06. The firm has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a PE ratio of 14.08 and a beta of 0.73.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, April 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $69.71 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $70.42 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.79% and a net margin of 25.81%.During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 4.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, April 25th were given a $0.52 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 24th. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on LKFN shares. Hovde Group lifted their target price on Lakeland Financial from $63.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, April 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.50.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 321,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,443,000 after purchasing an additional 14,584 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 48,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,796,000 after purchasing an additional 817 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 26.1% in the 1st quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 7,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $412,000 after purchasing an additional 1,486 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter worth approximately $483,000. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

About Lakeland Financial

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.