Lakeland Financial Corporation $LKFN Position Cut by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS trimmed its holdings in Lakeland Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 9.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $307,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Quarry LP bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. CWM LLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 631 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after purchasing an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 1,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 281 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the 1st quarter valued at $215,000. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $68.00 price target (up from $65.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Monday, July 28th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $70.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Lisa M. O’neill sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.72, for a total value of $166,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 34,366 shares in the company, valued at $2,292,899.52. This represents a 6.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 4,635 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.07, for a total value of $310,869.45. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 32,282 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,165,153.74. The trade was a 12.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,435 shares of company stock valued at $497,769 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $59.77 on Monday. Lakeland Financial Corporation has a one year low of $50.00 and a one year high of $78.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $64.68 and a 200-day moving average of $61.56. The company has a market capitalization of $1.53 billion, a PE ratio of 16.29 and a beta of 0.59.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $1.04 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.11. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.57% and a net margin of 22.55%.The company had revenue of $63.36 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.02 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Lakeland Financial Corporation will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Saturday, October 25th will be issued a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 24th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.50%.

Lakeland Financial Profile

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.