Public Sector Pension Investment Board Buys 12,436 Shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 99,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,436 shares during the quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board owned 0.39% of Lakeland Financial worth $6,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LKFN. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,354,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $83,237,000 after acquiring an additional 57,252 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 403.6% during the second quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 383,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,568,000 after purchasing an additional 307,371 shares in the last quarter. Boston Trust Walden Corp purchased a new position in Lakeland Financial during the third quarter worth about $23,968,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 327.9% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 199,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,848,000 after acquiring an additional 152,738 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 38.2% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 190,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,684,000 after purchasing an additional 52,558 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on LKFN. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price target (down previously from $74.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Stephens set a $66.00 price target on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.00.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $60.85 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $59.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.11. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 12-month low of $50.00 and a 12-month high of $69.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market cap of $1.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17 and a beta of 0.75.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.16 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $69.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $69.45 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.19% and a net margin of 24.51%.During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Sunday, January 25th were paid a $0.52 dividend. This is a boost from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 23rd. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.87%.

Lakeland Financial Profile

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.