Fmr LLC Increases Stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Fmr LLC raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) by 41.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,428 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 24,030 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Lakeland Financial were worth $5,368,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 342.5% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 58.0% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 2,123 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $138,000 after acquiring an additional 890 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 33,337.5% in the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 2,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after purchasing an additional 2,667 shares during the last quarter. 81.15% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 32,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,386,912.50. This trade represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold 4,150 shares of company stock worth $305,327 in the last ninety days. 3.30% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Lakeland Financial Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of LKFN opened at $73.02 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97 and a beta of 0.67. Lakeland Financial Co. has a twelve month low of $57.45 and a twelve month high of $78.61.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.88 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.90 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.98 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Investors of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 49.87%.

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.