Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Buys 1,650 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 18,939 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,650 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned 0.07% of Lakeland Financial worth $1,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Albert D Mason Inc. boosted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Albert D Mason Inc. now owns 22,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,557,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Forvis Mazars Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 68,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,736,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 50,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,448,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd raised its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 16,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 4,954 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director M Scott Welch purchased 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 11th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $61.40 per share, with a total value of $307,000.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. The trade was a 14.71 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Stephanie R. Leniski sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.94, for a total transaction of $92,910.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 6,211 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 0.5 %

LKFN opened at $59.63 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.43 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $57.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $65.35. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $50.00 and a 12-month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its quarterly 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). Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.31% and a net margin of 21.74%. The business had revenue of $90.46 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $63.54 million. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 EPS for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 25th were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 25th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 57.14%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on LKFN shares. Hovde Group upgraded Lakeland Financial from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $72.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price target on shares of Lakeland Financial from $69.00 to $65.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 28th.

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.