Lakeland Financial (NASDAQ:LKFN) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Lakeland Financial Co. (NASDAQ:LKFN)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $78.49 and last traded at $77.16, with a volume of 7845 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $75.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Lakeland Financial Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $67.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.73. The firm has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24 and a beta of 0.65.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $106.94 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $59.90 million. Lakeland Financial had a return on equity of 13.64% and a net margin of 22.85%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.98 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Lakeland Financial Co. will post 3.42 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Lakeland Financial Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, November 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a $0.48 dividend. This represents a $1.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. Lakeland Financial’s dividend payout ratio is presently 49.87%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Lakeland Financial

In other news, EVP Eric H. Ottinger sold 3,959 shares of the business’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 32,475 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,386,912.50. The trade was a 10.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP James Rickard Donovan sold 800 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.42, for a total value of $52,336.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,568 shares in the company, valued at approximately $625,938.56. This trade represents a 7.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,950 shares of company stock worth $357,663 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 3.30% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lakeland Financial

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 342.5% in the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 459 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 period. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Lakeland Financial in the third quarter worth approximately $74,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Lakeland Financial by 72.2% in 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 during the period. 81.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.