Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Cuts Stock Position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC cut its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 109,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 771 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $7,547,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

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 report on Friday, March 21st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, January 27th.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

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

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $60.98 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80 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. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.58 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.55.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 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%. Equities 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. Stockholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. 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 dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

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.