Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Makes New $273,000 Investment in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 4,191 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $273,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $655,000. DAVENPORT & Co LLC raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 14,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp now owns 322,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,318,000 after acquiring an additional 7,056 shares in the last quarter. CKW Financial Group acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the 3rd quarter worth about $148,000. Finally, Copeland Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 33.6% during the 3rd quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 736,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,958,000 after acquiring an additional 185,217 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total value of $783,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $925,060.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total value of $783,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $925,060.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 1,500 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.70, for a total value of $98,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 34,655 shares in the company, valued at $2,276,833.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 53,728 shares of company stock worth $3,670,449 in the last quarter. 3.30% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LKFN has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Stephens raised their target price on Lakeland Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th. Raymond James raised their target price on Lakeland Financial from $60.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 26th.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $61.37 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $63.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.42. The company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a PE ratio of 16.81 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52-week low of $43.05 and a 52-week high of $73.22.

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

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 6th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.13%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.60%.

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.