M Scott Welch Purchases 10,000 Shares of Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock

Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) Director M Scott Welch bought 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 27th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $57.95 per share, for a total transaction of $579,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 49,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,839,550. The trade was a 25.64% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $58.09 on Friday. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a 12 month low of $50.00 and a 12 month high of $69.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.49 and a beta of 0.75. The business has a 50-day moving average of $59.47 and a 200-day moving average of $61.02.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its earnings results on Monday, January 26th. The financial services provider reported $1.07 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $69.45 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Sunday, January 25th were issued a dividend of $0.52 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 23rd. This represents a $2.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is presently 51.87%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LKFN has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Lakeland Financial from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Hovde Group downgraded Lakeland Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Stephens set a $66.00 target price on Lakeland Financial in a research note on Tuesday, January 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.00.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth $795,000. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter worth $5,416,000. Millennium Management LLC grew its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 148.1% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 82,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,686,000 after acquiring an additional 49,020 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc purchased a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $991,000. Finally, Inspire Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 16.0% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 8,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,000 after acquiring an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Company 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.