Corebridge Financial Inc. Trims Position in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Corebridge Financial Inc. reduced its position in shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 257 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.05% of Lakeland Financial worth $773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 18,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,303,000 after purchasing an additional 1,650 shares in the last quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 127.5% during the fourth quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 7,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 4,035 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 11,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $815,000 after purchasing an additional 1,577 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 15.5% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 5,724 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 51.9% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 22,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,571,000 after purchasing an additional 7,807 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $68.00 target price (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

LKFN stock opened at $67.93 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.73 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51 and a beta of 0.64. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $50.00 and a 12 month high of $78.61.

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

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

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