Lakeland Financial Co. (LKFN) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.48 on May 6th

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 9th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of 0.48 per share by the financial services provider on Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th.

Lakeland Financial has raised its dividend payment by an average of 15.3% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. Lakeland Financial has a payout ratio of 54.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Lakeland Financial to earn $3.50 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.92 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 54.9%.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 4.3 %

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock opened at $61.65 on Monday. Lakeland Financial 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. The stock has a market cap of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 16.89 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a 50-day moving average of $63.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.32.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.10. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.85% and a return on equity of 14.89%. The company had revenue of $65.81 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.81 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial will post 3.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on LKFN shares. Stephens raised their price objective 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. Raymond James raised their price objective 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.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total value of $783,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $925,060.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 value of $1,902,166.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 39,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,846,098. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $783,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $925,060.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 53,728 shares of company stock valued at $3,670,449 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 13.6% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 26,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,942,000 after purchasing an additional 3,183 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 3,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 24,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,755,000 after purchasing an additional 4,357 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 56.0% in the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 13,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $951,000 after purchasing an additional 4,675 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 14.1% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 21,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,592,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.