Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Bought by Eagle Asset Management Inc.

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 250,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 56,928 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $16,289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.6% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 12,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $787,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 58.0% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.1% during the second quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,679 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $349,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Finally, nVerses Capital LLC increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 60.0% in the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock opened at $75.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $1.92 billion, a PE ratio of 19.58 and a beta of 0.65. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $53.97 and a 12 month high of $78.31. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.59.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.98 EPS. Analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.87%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other news, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total transaction of $52,336.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at $625,938.56. The trade was a 7.72 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Kristin Pruitt sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $804,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 10,252 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $687,499.12. The trade was a 53.93 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 16,950 shares of company stock valued at $1,162,383 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

About Lakeland Financial

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.