Eric H. Ottinger Sells 3,959 Shares of Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) Stock

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN) EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of Lakeland Financial stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.50, for a total transaction of $290,986.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,386,912.50. This represents a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Lakeland Financial Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of Lakeland Financial stock traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $72.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,049 shares, compared to its average volume of 114,993. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.01 and a beta of 0.65. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $66.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.31. Lakeland Financial Co. has a 1-year low of $53.97 and a 1-year high of $78.31.

Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, October 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $59.90 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 25th were paid a $0.48 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $1.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Lakeland Financial’s payout ratio is 49.87%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LKFN. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Lakeland Financial by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 605,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,406,000 after acquiring an additional 5,562 shares during the period. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Lakeland Financial by 130.5% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 50,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,320,000 after buying an additional 28,851 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Lakeland Financial by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,276,929 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $83,154,000 after buying an additional 27,556 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Lakeland Financial by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 66,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,317,000 after acquiring an additional 4,315 shares during the period. Finally, Point72 DIFC Ltd bought a new position in Lakeland Financial during the third quarter worth about $74,000. Institutional investors own 81.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Lakeland Financial from $64.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

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.