Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN Shares Purchased by Raymond James Financial Inc.

Raymond James Financial Inc. grew its holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 4.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 349,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,759 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned about 1.37% of Lakeland Financial worth $20,796,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 999,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $59,383,000 after purchasing an additional 52,753 shares in the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $65,773,000 after acquiring an additional 51,624 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 807,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $55,526,000 after acquiring an additional 6,307 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Lakeland Financial by 1.5% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 181,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,761,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 2.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 130,555 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,760,000 after buying an additional 3,663 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Hovde Group raised Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.00.

Insider Activity

In other Lakeland Financial news, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $166,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 34,366 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,292,899.52. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $310,869.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,282 shares in the company, valued at $2,165,153.74. This represents a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 7,435 shares of company stock worth $497,769 over the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of LKFN opened at $67.85 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $63.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.20. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a twelve month low of $50.00 and a twelve month high of $78.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.49 and a beta of 0.63.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.55% and a return on equity of 13.57%. The company had revenue of $63.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.02 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.50%.

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.