Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Shares Purchased by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 18.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 105,703 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 16,279 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.42% of Lakeland Financial worth $5,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKFN. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 26.1% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,452,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $68,935,000 after acquiring an additional 300,747 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 27.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,308,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,484,000 after acquiring an additional 280,943 shares during the last quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 47.2% during the second quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 738,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,813,000 after acquiring an additional 236,677 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 33.6% during the third quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC now owns 736,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,958,000 after acquiring an additional 185,217 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 11.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,768,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,111,000 after acquiring an additional 181,199 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on LKFN shares. Stephens boosted their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $67.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th. TheStreet raised Lakeland Financial from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Monday, December 4th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their price objective on Lakeland Financial from $60.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 26th.

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 4.1 %

NASDAQ:LKFN opened at $65.36 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $64.94 and a 200-day moving average of $58.57. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 52 week low of $43.05 and a 52 week high of $73.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.98 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $65.81 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $59.81 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 14.89% and a net margin of 23.85%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.01 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.49 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 25th were given a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, January 24th. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.46. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is currently 52.60%.

Insider Transactions at Lakeland Financial

In other news, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total transaction of $783,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares in the company, valued at $925,060.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Lakeland Financial news, CEO David M. Findlay sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.26, for a total value of $783,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,175 shares in the company, valued at $925,060.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 893 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.93, for a total value of $58,875.49. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 3,174 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $209,261.82. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 53,728 shares of company stock worth $3,670,449. Company insiders own 3.30% 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.