Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 32,060 Shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 434.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,060 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.15% of Lakeland Financial worth $2,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 186.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Lakeland Financial by 1,212.5% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 80.9% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $107,000 after acquiring an additional 747 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter worth $215,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $226,000. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director M Scott Welch bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $56.23 per share, for a total transaction of $562,300.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 212,006 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,921,097.38. This trade represents a 4.95% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bradley J. Toothaker sold 5,685 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.36, for a total value of $331,776.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,178 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,177,588.08. This trade represents a 21.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders acquired a total of 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,419,050 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on LKFN. Hovde Group cut shares of Lakeland Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Stephens set a $66.00 price objective on Lakeland Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Lakeland Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.00.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock opened at $56.57 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 14.11 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $58.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.60. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $50.00 and a fifty-two week high of $69.40.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.02. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 24.51% and a return on equity of 14.19%. The business had revenue of $69.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.45 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, January 25th were issued a $0.52 dividend. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is currently 51.87%.

About Lakeland Financial

Lakeland Financial Corporation is a bank holding company based in Warsaw, Indiana, that operates through its principal subsidiary, Lakeland Bank. The company offers a full range of commercial and consumer banking services, including deposit products such as checking accounts, savings accounts and certificates of deposit, as well as a variety of loan offerings spanning commercial real estate, agricultural, mortgage, consumer and small-business lending.

Originally organized in 1893 as Kosciusko County State Bank, the enterprise reorganized as a bank holding company in 1984 to facilitate strategic growth and diversification.