Sanctuary Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 3,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 232,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,327,000 after purchasing an additional 684 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 10.8% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 5,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $334,000 after acquiring an additional 529 shares during the period. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 24.8% in the 2nd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 65,224 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,013,000 after purchasing an additional 12,975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 4.0% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 7,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $447,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Lakeland Financial Price Performance

Shares of LKFN stock opened at $68.75 on Monday. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $57.45 and a 1-year high of $78.61. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $70.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $66.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.75 billion, a PE ratio of 17.86 and a beta of 0.67.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. Lakeland Financial had a net margin of 22.85% and a return on equity of 13.64%. The firm had revenue of $106.94 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $59.90 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.98 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were issued a dividend of $0.48 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 49.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Lakeland Financial news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,386,912.50. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 4,150 shares of company stock valued at $305,327. 3.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.