Hovde Group Initiates Coverage on Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Analysts at Hovde Group began coverage on shares of Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) in a research report issued on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. Hovde Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 9.65% from the company’s current price.

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $74.00 price target (up from $73.00) on shares of Lakeland Financial in a report on Monday, January 27th.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ LKFN opened at $60.19 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $65.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.66. Lakeland Financial has a 52 week low of $57.45 and a 52 week high of $78.61. The stock has a market cap of $1.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.58 and a beta of 0.63.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by $0.05. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 21.74% and a return on equity of 13.31%. On average, research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Lakeland Financial

In other Lakeland Financial news, 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 transaction of $36,437.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. This represents a 9.96 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total transaction of $92,910.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,211 shares in the company, valued at $384,709.34. This trade represents a 19.45 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Lakeland Financial

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Snowden Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 5.7% during the fourth quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 956,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $65,773,000 after purchasing an additional 51,624 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 53.5% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 4,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $322,000 after purchasing an additional 1,635 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 44.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares during the period. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Lakeland Financial Company 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.