Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Has Lowered Expectations for Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock Price

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) had its price objective lowered by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $69.00 to $65.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Separately, Hovde Group initiated coverage on Lakeland Financial in a research report on Friday, March 21st. They set a “market perform” rating and a $66.00 price target on the stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

LKFN stock opened at $54.84 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $1.43 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 0.64. Lakeland Financial has a 12 month low of $50.00 and a 12 month high of $78.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.84.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its earnings results on Friday, April 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.09). The business had revenue of $90.46 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $63.54 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Lakeland Financial will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 5th. Investors of record on Friday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 25th. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 57.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director M Scott Welch purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total value of $92,910.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Sterling Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 809.9% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 737 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $64,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.