Raymond James Financial Inc. Takes Position in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 336,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $23,111,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LKFN. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Lakeland Financial in the 4th quarter valued at $50,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the fourth quarter worth $53,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the third quarter worth $74,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $115,000 after acquiring an additional 642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 72.2% during the third 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. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Lakeland Financial Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKFN opened at $62.33 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $1.62 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 0.63. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 12-month low of $57.45 and a 12-month high of $78.61. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.89.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, January 24th. The financial services provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, equities analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 5th. Shareholders of record on Saturday, January 25th were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is an increase from Lakeland Financial’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.48. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 24th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.10%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director M Scott Welch bought 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 11th. The stock was bought at an average price of $61.40 per share, for a total transaction of $307,000.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 39,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,394,600. This trade represents a 14.71 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Donald Robinson-Gay sold 550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.25, for a total transaction of $36,437.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 4,974 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $329,527.50. This represents a 9.96 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.00% of the company’s stock.

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.