SG Americas Securities LLC Sells 10,883 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

SG Americas Securities LLC decreased its stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 78.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,883 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $190,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 47.6% in the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 22,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,628,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 78.9% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 381 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 45.3% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 6.2% in the first quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James lifted their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $60.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th. Stephens lifted their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 26th.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $58.48 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $63.75 and a 200 day moving average of $59.78. The stock has a market cap of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.02 and a beta of 0.67. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12 month low of $43.05 and a 12 month high of $73.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $65.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.81 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.85% and a return on equity of 14.89%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 52.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, Director Michael L. Kubacki sold 26,600 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $1,902,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,800 shares in the company, valued at $2,846,098. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 2,560 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.17, for a total value of $161,715.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,270 shares in the company, valued at approximately $269,735.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael L. Kubacki sold 26,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.51, for a total transaction of $1,902,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 39,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,846,098. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,728 shares of company stock worth $3,670,449 over the last three months. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.