Inspire Investing LLC Acquires 550 Shares of Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN

Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 9.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $389,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in LKFN. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.3% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the first quarter valued at about $328,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 3.2% during the first quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 13,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 12.6% during the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 20,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,253,000 after acquiring an additional 2,325 shares during the period. Finally, Sippican Capital Advisors increased its stake in Lakeland Financial by 11.5% during the first quarter. Sippican Capital Advisors now owns 21,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,284,000 after acquiring an additional 2,234 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total transaction of $166,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 34,366 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,292,899.52. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,435 shares of company stock worth $497,769. Company insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

NASDAQ LKFN opened at $61.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $1.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.85 and a beta of 0.59. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a one year low of $50.00 and a one year high of $78.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $64.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.50.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $63.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $67.02 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 22.55%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, October 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.50%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LKFN has been the topic of several analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $68.00 price objective (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Lakeland Financial presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.00.

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.