Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. Sells 650 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. reduced its holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 10.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 650 shares during the quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $199,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 41.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 82,428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,368,000 after purchasing an additional 24,030 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after purchasing an additional 28,851 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 1.9% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 57,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,773,000 after purchasing an additional 1,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the third quarter valued at approximately $616,000. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $66.42 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.30 and a beta of 0.68. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $57.45 and a 12-month high of $78.61. The business’s 50 day moving average is $67.82 and its 200 day moving average is $68.07.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is currently 55.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Lakeland Financial news, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price objective (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.