Bank of New York Mellon Corp Decreases Holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its position in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 198,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,653 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.78% of Lakeland Financial worth $12,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Lakeland Financial during the first quarter worth $33,000. 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 buying an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,000 after buying an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter valued at about $215,000. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 1st quarter valued at about $234,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on LKFN shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price objective (down from $74.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lakeland Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the 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 directly owned 32,282 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,165,153.74. This represents a 12.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $56.30 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $61.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.31. The company has a market cap of $1.44 billion, a PE ratio of 14.85 and a beta of 0.67. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $50.00 and a 12 month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $69.03 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.15 million. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 23.23% and a return on equity of 13.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, October 25th were given a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 24th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is currently 52.77%.

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.