Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Upgraded at Hovde Group

Hovde Group upgraded shares of Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) from a market perform rating to an outperform rating in a research note published on Tuesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $72.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods dropped their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 1.1 %

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $59.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51 and a beta of 0.58. Lakeland Financial has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $78.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.39.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.87 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $90.46 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $63.54 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 25th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 25th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total transaction of $92,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,211 shares in the company, valued at $384,709.34. This represents a 19.45 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares in the company, valued at approximately $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 4th quarter valued at about $50,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 809.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

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.