Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Stephanie R. Leniski Sells 1,500 Shares

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the company’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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $384,709.34. The trade was a 19.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of LKFN opened at $62.09 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.81. The company has a market capitalization of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.10 and a beta of 0.63. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $57.45 and a 52-week high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.10%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,773,000 after purchasing an additional 51,624 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 53.5% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 2,305 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 price objective (up previously from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research 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.