Wall Street Zen Upgrades Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) to Hold

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

LKFN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $68.00 price target (down from $74.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. Stephens set a $66.00 target price on Lakeland Financial in a research report on Tuesday, January 27th. Hovde Group cut Lakeland Financial from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $68.00 to $66.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Lakeland Financial in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.00.

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

Shares of LKFN opened at $59.60 on Friday. Lakeland Financial has a 52-week low of $50.00 and a 52-week high of $70.80. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a quick ratio of 0.89 and a current ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.86 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 13.0% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 60,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,614,000 after purchasing an additional 6,987 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 90.5% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 32,427 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,927,000 after buying an additional 15,404 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.1% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 14,868 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $884,000 after acquiring an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC lifted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 327.9% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 199,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $11,848,000 after acquiring an additional 152,738 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial in the 1st quarter worth $215,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

About Lakeland Financial

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.