Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN Stock Holdings Lessened by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC trimmed its stake in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 14.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 923 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $57,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $328,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 3.2% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 12.6% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares in the last quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors raised its position in Lakeland Financial by 11.5% during the first quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 21,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the first quarter valued at approximately $229,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on LKFN shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (up previously from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Monday, July 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Lakeland Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.00.

Lakeland Financial Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $63.88 on Friday. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $50.00 and a 1 year high of $78.61. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $64.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.41 and a beta of 0.59.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.93 by $0.11. The firm 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, August 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 25th were issued a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 25th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 54.50%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other news, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total value 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. The trade was a 6.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total transaction of $310,869.45. Following the transaction, 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. Insiders sold a total of 7,435 shares of company stock worth $497,769 in the last 90 days. 3.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.