Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC Sells 771 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC cut its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 109,757 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 771 shares during the quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC owned approximately 0.43% of Lakeland Financial worth $7,547,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the fourth quarter worth approximately $23,111,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,560,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,940,356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $133,419,000 after buying an additional 100,001 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Lakeland Financial by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 946,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,066,000 after buying an additional 43,312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after buying an additional 28,851 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LKFN. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th. Hovde Group initiated coverage on Lakeland Financial in a report on Friday, March 21st. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 target price for the company.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $60.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80 and a beta of 0.63. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.58 and its 200-day moving average price is $67.55. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $57.45 and a 1-year high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. Equities research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 24th. This is a positive change from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 55.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director M Scott Welch bought 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were bought at an average price of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This represents a 14.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total value of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $329,527.50. The trade was a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

About Lakeland Financial

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.